Professor Robert E. Hinson, an internationally acclaimed Marketing Scholar, has urged business schools in Ghana’s universities to listen more to industry for course alignment to be competitive globally.

He called for closer linkage between academia and the industry to find the missing gaps and develop appropriate strategies for redress.

Prof Hinson made the call in Accra at the weekend at a symposium and outdooring of the Accra Technical University Business School, formerly the ATU Faculty of Business.

“Nowadays employers are looking for programmes that embody blue-ocean thinking and innovation to drive the world of work,” he said.

“For instance, why can’t Business Schools have M.A. programmes that incorporate procurement and marketing, or robotics and marketing?”

“Nowadays, with three hours, you can craft a whole integrated marketing communications campaign with appropriate AI tools. So why would you take a whole degree in integrated marketing communications and not finish with deep AI expertise?”

“Why would you do an MBA in marketing and not know how to answer a simple advertising agency brief?” he asked.

Prof. Hinson said the world had changed from machine learning to different types of AI deployments, adding: “It is time for technology-inspired thinking to understand the changing dynamics of having a more practical way to configure business programme.”

“I pray that one day we will have a CNN university that runs 24/7. You do not need minimal human interfaces. You can take the courses from Singapore, from China, from India, and from Botswana, and it’s possible.”

“Business schools should chart new territories based on what industry needs, and that is how they will be distinctive.”

He said world-class business schools must be research-intensive to resolve industry problems.

“That is the kind of research that will make business schools distinctive. Their research must be world-class, their teaching must be innovative, they need to take student experience seriously, and their marketing should be on point,” he said.

Dr Daniel McKellen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, McDan Group of Companies, suggested to government to take a relook into the country’s tertiary curriculum to make it fit for purpose.

“I suggest three years of class work for the students and one year with the industry to be abreast of the hands-on experience,” he said.

The country’s curriculum, Dr McKellen said, must challenge the students to think critically and proposed solutions to society’s problems.

Prof Amevi Acakpovi, the Vice-Chancellor of ATU, said the transition to ATU Business School defined the institution’s renewed identity and repositioned it to compete within Africa and beyond.