University and University Colleges

Its refreshing news to hear that the University and University Colleges Act is going to be amended.After the standards of our public university have gone down so bad we now realise the very product we are producing are of doubtful quality incapable of competing globally maybe even locally.It is such a pity when I remember those days when our students are so full of spirits and enthusiasm.They were full of confidence and courage.Yes some of them did take to the streets.Demonstrating against current issues at that time.I showed that they were aware to their surroundings.The Act literally killed all the spirits and the enthusiasm and our students become timid, lack of self-confidence and unable to communicate effectively. No wonder when about 40,000 of them are unemployed.With 10,000 coming out every year from the 20 universities the numbers will grow in no time. Asking them to be entrepreneurs may be part of the solution but we must remember entrepreneurs have that special quality of willing to take risks.How many of them have that quality. In fact the Act is so draconian that it even stifled lecturers from going out to get practical experience. So what we get in the universities are students of the universities being sent to further their studies and coming back to teach the new students. Like anything else this inbreeding is not good at all. Perhaps now we all see the need to have a dialogue with captains of the industry to see how practical experience can be obtained by our students and that our curricula are what the industry needs. The mismatch has been going on far too long.If our universities are so good why is that our competitive position from 16 went down to 19?Look around us maybe we can learn something from others.