By Adesina Wahab

The Rector, Yaba College of Technology, YABATECH, Dr Ibrahim Abdul, has said the nation’s tertiary institutions should move at the pace with which the industry moves to be able to produce graduates that will meet expectations and be relevant to industry’s needs.

He stated this at the weekend during the maiden edition of an event tagged “A day with our industry partners”, held at the College campus in Yaba.

The programme was aimed at further exploring ways of collaboration between the college and her industry partners.

*We have to collaborate with industry for resources development, as industry is moving at fast pace, we need to catch up to be able to produce graduates that will be relevant and possess the required skills and be innovative. It is a sort of indictment when the industry people are saying institutions are producing graduates that are not relevant to their needs

“In that wise, as institutions, we should not rely on teachers who are using the experiences they gained from their own teachers over 30 years ago. That is where the need for collaboration between the academia and the industry is important. Here, we are working hard to be a centre of excellence in the area of Technical, and Vocational Education and Training, TVET.

“We are not shying away from donations of equipment from industry in various fields. That is going to let our students get hands on experiences and also we request start up kits for our students too. YABATECH is a place to be and a partner to partner with.We are focused on skills and innovation and it is a testament to a meaningful collaboration between the ivory towers and the industry.”

“Saying products of an academic institution are not fit for industry is a minus. Is it that the institution is not doing its job or the industry is not collaboration with schools to achieve purpose? We want a symbiotic relationship whereby we give to the industry and you give to us too,” he said.

Abdul also emphasized the need for the production of graduates that meet global standards in competence and innovation.

“We can create entrepreneurs too among our students because it may not be possible for the industry to take all. We want mentorship and skills training for our products for them to have first hand industry experience.We need to review our curriculum. We want to also change some of our programmes and even rename them if they are outdated,” he added.

In his speech, the Chairman of the Governing Council, Prof. Funso Afolabi, noted that the task of developing Nigeria anew starts with producing graduates who have the skills and are innovative to meet today’s global standards.

He lauded the management of the College for the giant strides recorded so far since they came on board.

In their various remarks, representatives of organisations such as Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, NEM Insurance, CISCO, Canadian High Commission in Nigeria among others commended the College for taking the step to collaborate and work with industry and their leaders.