SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: A TOOL FOR ADDRESSING SOCIETAL CHALLENGES, SAYS YABATECH COUNCIL CHAIR

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: A TOOL FOR ADDRESSING SOCIETAL CHALLENGES, SAYS YABATECH COUNCIL CHAIR

• By Admin
• COLLEGE
• May 15, 2025 02:10 pm

The Chairman, Governing Council, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Professor ‘Funsho Afolabi has projected skills development and interactive session as a tool for addressing societal challenges other than theoretical knowledge.

He made the submission at the college maiden ‘A Day with our Industry Partners’, an industry-academia dialogue and for mentorship innovative organized by the Centre for Linkages Partnership and International Relations of the college.

Prof. Afolabi described the event as bridging the gap between ‘Gown and Town’, fostering academia-industry collaboration; stating that “we must align with Yabatech’s agenda, which complements the Presidential Renewed Hope Agenda and revitalizes earlier initiatives”.

He said that the clarion call for more skills development methods and bridging the gap between Gown and Town interrelationships is not to downplay the usefulness of modelling and theorization.

Yaba College of Technology, according to him, has been mostly rated as college of technology in Nigeria, with raters using “Frontal Impact Tests”, which is used to conduct ratings on polytechnics with focus on technical and vocational education and skills development, ICT, Geo-informatics and Geo-Matichs.

The chairman stated that, to consolidate these attainments and avoid crashing into deformable barriers that would not allow her to continue to come first, hence, continues to diversify her focus and making moves to exchange knowledge, innovate, explore partnership, outsource between students, faculty and the industry among others.

Delivering his address, Rector, Yaba College of Technology Dr. Engr. Ibraheem Abdul said that the motive behind the programme is to build a stronger academia-industry linkages as ‘we want a symbiotic relationship whereby our esteemed industry partners can give to us and we give to them’.

He noted that, it is shared responsibilities to build a workforce that will make global standard in competence, creativity and innovation of which collaborations and linkages are of great importance.

Dr. Abdul encouraged the partners to continue engaging the college towards jointly developing required solutions for both the industry and academia.

 He declared that the institution is looking for internship opportunities, research collaborations, for the college because ‘we have staff who are experts in great numbers and are qualified, trained and can also contribute no matter to our own development’.

“We want skills, we want mentorship, so that we can create a pathway for our students to gain not just theoretical knowledge but first-hand industry experience before they graduate“; he added.

The Rector noted that curriculum needs to be reviewed to align with the practices in the industry, and rename some of the courses.

The Director, Centre for Linkages, Partnership and Internal Relations, Dr. Moshood Ajala, in his welcome address said the event is a testament to the college shared vision of transforming education, research and skill development to meet global standards.

Adding that, at Yaba College of Technology, “we recognize that strong partnerships are the foundation of progress, we bridge the gap between academia and industry through strategic linkages, foster knowledge exchange and create opportunities for our students”.

 

 

 

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