Minister urges public universities to restructure programmes

Mr Mahama Ayariga, Minister of Information and Media Relations, has urged public universities to restructure their programmes to correspond to the needs of the market.

He said the restructuring should ensure that products of the universities correspond to the market to ensure easy access to jobs.

Mr Ayariga said this at the weekend during the maiden alumni lecture of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in Accra, on the theme: “Tertiary Education and its Impact on the Nation’s Economy.”

He said tertiary education has contributed immensely to the development of Ghana’s economy especially in the tourism and financial sectors.

Mr Ayariga said industries depend on innovation, research and development of new products to thrive.

He called on the universities to introduce new programmes that would help provide the various industries with the required human resource base to enable them grow faster like other sectors.

He said university lectures also need to engage in more research work in order to help industries develop new products.

Mr Balado Manu, a former Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South and alumni of GIMPA also called for a change in the curricula of the public universities as the world is changing at a faster pace.

He said universities should display innovation in what they do, which must reflect in the students they produce and asked the National Council for Tertiary Education to assist in this regard.

Mr Manu expressed shock over the formation of the Unemployed Graduate Association; saying that those belonging to the association should used their acquired knowledge in school to develop themselves.

Source: GNA