In today's world of stiff competition in the labour market, coupled with advanced technology, industries require of students to have job experience before employing them. The challenge here is that the experience being required is not taught in the lecture rooms. The reality is that, it is only gained though hands on the job, thus real world confrontation popularly called industrial attachment a platform for students arm themselves with all the skill, knowledge and demanded experience. This article examines the industrial attachment programmes of polytechnics in Ghana and pertinent issues involved. The paper tackled the problem from four thematic areas; the preparation before the training starts, the perceived challenges encountered, the benefits derived from embarking on the training and suggested strategies to be employed to enhance the programme.

Entrepreneurship currently is seen worldwide or globally as an efficient and effective vehicle for socio-economic growth and sustainable development. Most governments have it as a core part of their programme of governance and also committed considerable amount of resources to it, as a result of high rate of unemployment with the object of encouraging graduates after school to establish themselves and become their own bosses, instead of seeking to be employed which is non-existent. The current study seeks to analyse barriers to start-up business among graphic design graduates, Takoradi Polytechnic. The study employed survey and descriptive research method in executing the study. Data analysed in the paper revealed that; a considerable number of graphic design graduates from takoradi polytechnic were not employed after six years of graduation, majority had nursed the intention of establishing their own business ventures, the graduates preferred sole proprietorship and printing as their choice of form and type of business to pursue, they also had a great deal of knowledge on entrepreneurial agencies and support services but were ignorant of what they had to offer new and existing entrepreneurs and finally, lack of government support and funding were the significant barriers graphic design students come face to face with in the bid to establish themselves.

Public sector procurement is very significant driver of innovation and currently re-emerging as the most sought after instrument of demand-side innovation policies. Progressively, it has been viewed as having imperative potential to drive innovation; there has been an issue of awareness deficit of public procurement as an innovation policy tool among key stakeholders-policy makers, procurement practitioners and academics particularly in Ghana and Africa. It's in this direction that this study sought to explore the barriers to awareness level of public procurement as an innovation policy tool among the key stakeholders in Ghana. The study adopted both exploratory and cross-sectional survey designs in investigating the barriers. Purposive sampling was used in selecting the sample to help fulfil the predetermined purpose of the study. The study revealed among others the following: low level of education as a major challenge to innovation in Ghana and developing nations, ISSN 2162-4860 2016 www.macrothink.org/ber 14 limited budgets for education in training of high-skill specialist for promotion of innovation, lack of coordination across agencies on innovation policies (incoherent public policies), poor governance and business conditions affecting awareness level, lack of public sector support of innovation, no policy direction as to the use of public procurement to stimulate innovation in Ghana. The study also showed a lack of link between science and innovation in Ghana impeding the awareness level among the key stakeholders. The study recommends performance appraisal and institutional performance reviews for management of education to improve the level of education in Ghana and the curriculum for VTE level should be practical-oriented. They should also increase the funding of education in general and VTE in particular. Agencies responsible for STI should be strengthened to coordinate all policies intended to influence innovation in Ghana and put together a coherent policy competent enough to capturing innovation where public procurement policy, R&D policies and innovation policies will be connected together. Business and Economic Research

Over the last decade the concept of entrepreneurship has emerged as one of the tools for development, wealth creation and economic growth. It has gradually taken its place in academia, and fast becoming a way of reducing the unemployment situation bedevilling developing countries. The current paper examined the study of entrepreneurship and its influence on the start-up businesses among students at Takoradi Polytechnic. The study employed the quantitative and qualitative methods to execute the study. The results of the study revealed that Polytechnic students have a high potential of becoming their own bosses after graduation, have knowledge of supporting institutions that exist in helping new and existing entrepreneurs, but were not aware of the assistance they offer such target groups. The study discovered a high relationship between entrepreneurship and education; students were enthused about investing in less capital intensive ventures, and also reckoned that lack of funding was not tolerated at starting-up.