Vice President John Dramani Mahama has commended private universities and colleges for their complementary role in providing quality education in the country.
He said huge number of senior secondary school students that comes out every year and adult learners could not be absolved into the public tertiary institutions alone.
Vice President Dramani said this in a speech read for him by Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, Minister of Education at the 44th graduation and 4th
congregation of the Ghana Christian University College (GCUC) on Saturday in Amrahia in the Greater Accra Region. Seventy-three granduands were awarded degrees and certificates.
The theme for the congregation was: "The Role of Transformational Leader in Nation Building".
"Transforming students into transformational leaders, requires that their orientation should start from the very moment they set foot on the
campuses of their universities", he said.
Vice President Dramani noted that graduating from an institution of higher learning was not an end in itself, saying "to whom much is given,
much is expected".
He said society has afforded the graduands the opportunity to acquire much knowledge, and when that knowledge was misapplied or not applied to its maximum, it was as dangerous as illiteracy.
".it is my conviction that you are truly transformed to assume leadership in various positions where you will soon find yourselves," Vice President Dramani said.
He pledged government support for the Water Life Project initiated by the College for the Amrahia community and expressed the hope that it would supplement the effort in raising living standard in the area.
The Water Life Project aims at providing water to communities around the College.
Dr Manuel Budu Adjei, President of GCUC, said the College believes in transforming people as well as communities.
He said GCUC offer communities an arena for the development and refinement of transformational leadership skills through the integration of faith and life.
Dr Budu-Adjei announced that the College had renewed its accreditation to expire in 2015, adding that as part of its community service, a borehole, an overhead storage facility, a four stand-pipe, were provided for the chiefs and people of Amrahia.
Mr Emmanuel Bonney Acquah, Chairman of the Governing Council of GCUC called on the graduands to work hard on the job market to enable them to
succeed, adding that "It takes hard work, determination, honesty, humility, faith and focus to succeed".
Mr Stephen Adio Kassim, immediate past Student Representative Council President of GCUC, encouraged students to patronize school activities which he noted would help to develop their leadership potentials.
The school's certificate programmes cover areas such as pastoral ministries, advanced marketing, church administration and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) management, systems administration, holistic child
development, human resource management, music instrumentation and voice, project management and strategic planning.
The degree programmes include Bachelor of Arts in Theology and Bachelors of Arts in development management.
Special awards were presented to deserving student who excelled in various disciplines.