Academic institutions wait until there is a graduated cohort to make major changes. Should that still be the case considering how things are moving so fast or there is a need for policy shift? However, there are many areas where academic institutions can also move faster, i.e. curricula review and implementation at lecturer, departmental & faculty levels, without waiting for Senate/Academic Board approvals. Such areas include but are not limited to examples given, teaching & learning tools & methods, among other things.
A good example is when there was an outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once more & more authentic facts about it were gathered, one could teach & examine on it in Biology & Medicine without going for Senate approval. This is because a topic on VIRUSES & VIRAL DISEASES already exists & the COVID-19 pandemic is just an example. However, some lecturers would not teach about it because they were waiting for Senate/Academic Board Approval which is unnecessary for examples to be included in the curricula & takes long because of limited sittings which delay a number of quick decisions to be made. Congratulations to those institutions which sit to make decisions on urgent and/or important matters.
Effective internships/industrial attachments, regular interviews & surveys of in-session students, students from internship, outgoing students & working closely with professional bodies could bridge the existing gaps between academia & industry within the context of their unending pushing of certain responsibilities to each other. This is normally coupled with accusations & counter-accusations normally in public. This could be part of washing dirty linen in public newspapers instead of SITTING ON ROUND TABLES TO DISCUSS COOPERATION & COLLABORATION issues instead of CONFLICT & COMPETITION.
