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From May 17th to May 19th, 2023, GIMPA played host to the Association of African Business Schools Conference dubbed, ‘AABS Connect Conference.’ It was themed: ‘Are Business Schools Relevant in Africa?’
The conference brought together a total of 120 participants drawn from South Africa, Senegal, Ethiopia, Italy, Canary Islands and the host country, Ghana. Leading experts from academia, industry, and government were brought in to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by business schools in Africa.
The three-day conference again sought to explore the current state and future prospects of business education in the African continent. Some of the topics discussed were: ‘The role of business schools in fostering economic development’, ‘The need for relevant and responsive curriculum’, ‘The challenges of attracting and retaining top talent,’ among many other relevant topics.
The conference opened on Thursday, 18th May, 2023 at the Greenhill Campus, GIMPA. The AABS Board Chairman, who welcomed participants expressed his appreciation to GIMPA for hosting the conference and also lauded the sponsors for their contribution towards making the conference a reality.
He was optimistic that the topics to be discussed were relevant and apt and further urged African universities to take the lead and provide ideas and principles to create a better ethical structure to shape African Business Schools.
The Dean of the GIMPA Business School, Prof. Samuel Famiyeh, who also welcomed participants, on behalf of the Rector of GIMPA, Prof. Samuel Kwaku Bonsu, lauded AABS for giving GIMPA the opportunity to host the conference.
He indicated that the conference would among others, study the complexities in the system and adjusts its teaching contents to correspond to the needs of society.
Dr. Patrick Awuah, the founder of Ashesi University and keynote speaker called for collaboration among African Business Schools in higher education to help graduates reflect on the experiences of others to solve economic challenges. He maintained that one of the best ways to learn was through experience, stressing that it was much better to learn from the bad experiences of others to develop better options to address situations.
He further bemoaned the practice whereby the academia, especially Business Schools, wrote and published articles in international journals and in ‘dry language’ that is incomprehensible to the media, politicians, and business people.
He therefore, urged universities to have broader discussions with the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission on issues of what cases or journals to publish since the primary focus of every business school was to ensure good governance and deal with corruption.
CORPORATE AFFAIRS & INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT, CAIA
By Joyce Boahemaa Fosu