Engage industry in curricula development - Trade Minister

Kumasi, Aug 16, GNA - Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah, the Trade and Industry Minister, has asked the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to take steps to subject its curricula development to industrial peer review.

He said it was critical to involve experts and other experienced people to come out with practical-based and demand-driven courses.

Addressing senior members of the university at a summer school in Kumasi, he noted that university education generally should be more of problem-solving.

The Minister underlined that the universities needed to deepen their collaboration with the private sector to produce well-resourced graduates, who would be readily absorbed by industry.

That was the path to travel to substantially reduce the graduate unemployment and aid the nation to catch up with the rest of the world, he added.

'Strengthening the linkage amongst academia, industry and government' was the theme for the programme, held under the auspices of the KNUST Quality Assurance and Planning Unit' was the theme for the three-day programme.

The wide range of topics discussed included 'The role of industry in curriculum development', 'Perception of industry about academia', 'Improving quality and relevance of tertiary education in Ghana', 'Competency-based learning' and 'Building stronger universities: the post-graduate education and training pathway'.

The summer school had been planned to provide the platform for the staff and key stakeholders in education and industry to brainstorm - identify and define the way forward to address the country's development challenges.

It brought together in excess of 2, 000 participants drawn from state-owned and private universities and the polytechnics, civil society organizations (CSOs) and industry.

Dr. Spio-Gabrah gave the assurance that the government would continue to support the university by way of the provision of vital logistics and funding.

Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso, the Vice-Chancellor, said they were determined to sustain the conversation with industry - to exchange ideas to bring efficiency into their operations.

GNA

By Stephen Asante, GNA