Banking and Finance Industry not satisfied with graduates

Accra, March 12, GNA- The banking and finance industry on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction with the performance and contribution of upcoming banking and finance graduates to the industry and the economy.

Dr Adom Adu-Amoah, Group Head, Payment Ecobank Shared Services said; "they are still being offered in our tertiary institutions with the same old content; course material; textbooks and reference materials recommended over a decade ago".

Dr Adu-Amoah was speaking on: "The Relevance of Tertiary Education Programme to Industry and Commerce" at a day's conference in Accra for teachers of banking subjects in universities in Ghana. He said the situation had persisted though the content of some subjects had changed globally.

The conference, organised by Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) was attended by banking and finance teachers of the universities throughout the country. Participants would discuss and deliberate on relevant issues to ensure a consensus on teaching and training of personnel of banking and financing in relevant institutions.

Dr Adu-Amoah said curricula of some banking programmes also did not define clearly intended outcomes of the courses and course outlines that did not show the learning objectives.

He noted that the method of teaching at the universities also contributed to the slow death of the programme adding, the teaching method was always lecture and note taking without much interaction between the students and faculty both within and outside the lecture theatres. "Due to inadequate human resources, it is virtually impossible to organize tutorials for students, which are supposed to make these programmes interactive for the development of analytical and communications skills."

Dr Adu-Amoah said the inadequate facilities at both private and public universities did not create the environment for students of banking and financing programmes to interact with the world of business and even practice what they have learnt.

He expressed concern about the absence of internship and vacation job, which would have allowed the student and the lecturer to have a world experience, the lowering of the entry requirements for banking and financing programmes and called for recruitment of highly qualified staff. He called for the need to research on existing curricula for banking and finance and their suitability to serve the needs of the rapidly changing global economic and social environment. "Institutions should review existing programme content for relevance and create new ones in collaborations with local and international organizations." Dr King A. Salami, Acting Dean of GIMPA, called for the need to train personnel in advanced banking and finance subjects for the banking industry to meet the increasing demand for highly qualified personnel. 11 March 08