Kumasi, Feb 16, GNA - A minister has appealed to the universities and other tertiary institutions to design programmes that are pertinent to the needs of the nation's manpower requirement to ensure prompt job placement for graduates.

Mrs Gifty Ohene-Konadu, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and PSI, said Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) dominated the country's industrial landscape.

These account for about 90 per cent of enterprises, contribute to about 60 per cent of employment and this demands that university graduates are well equipped with entrepreneurial skills to be self-employed after their education.

Mrs Ohene-Konadu said this at the launch of a strategic plan for the College of Art and Social Sciences of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi on Thursday.

She appealed to products of universities to accept this challenge and become models in the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills for others to emulate.

The Deputy Minister said her ministry was pursuing the development of handicraft largely for export and as a result some craft villages are being established throughout the country with facilities to support individual operators.

Okatakyie Dr Amanfi VII, chief of Asebu who launched the plan, said it was timely and could enhance the development of the college and the university as a whole.

He commended the college authorities for their foresight to put in place the plan and called for its efficient implementation. Professor Daniel Buor, Provost of CASS, said looking at the dwindling subvention of government to universities, there was the need for appropriate and sustainable strategies to generate income to finance projects in the college.

He said 40 industrial and commercial entities had been contacted all of whom have indicated they would support the college. Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Vice-Chancellor of KNUST who chaired the function, called on the CASS authorities not to leave the plan on shelves but make sure that they make good use of it.