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27.09.2005 General News

Universities urged to tailor programmes to job demands

27.09.2005 LISTEN
By GNA

Kumasi, Sept. 27, GNA - A call has gone to the country's universities to restructure academic programmes to make them relevant to the current demands on the job market.

This will help equip university students with entrepreneurial skills, which apart from stemming graduate unemployment also has the advantage of strengthening the private sector, which has been described as an engine of growth in the Ghanaian economy.

Dr Daniel Quaye, a lecturer of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), made the call at a career development programme organized by Innovate Company Limited based in Kumasi for 8,000 freshmen of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) at the weekend. The programme aimed at exposing students to ready job openings after their course of study was under the theme: "Preparing for the World".

Dr Quaye advised the students not only to restrict themselves to their respective courses but also to get involved in extra-curricula activities such as workshops and fora, which would help to expose them to what to expect in the world outside the confines of the university. Mr Heimann Addai, Products Manager of Hoffman La Roche Limited, a pharmaceutical company across Sub-Saharan Africa, urged the students to accept vacation training since it would give them a first hand experience in the careers they were preparing themselves for. He urged them to study hard to justify the huge investments made by their parents and the government.

Mr Franklin Brown, Chief Executive of Innovative Company, said the programme, which was the first of its kind, would be extended to other universities.

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