From time to time, the Department has been updating its curricula to cater for the needs of prospective teachers, required personnel and research scholars to work in various industries and research laboratories throughout the country. This year also the Department has revised its curricula in line with the recent revision and re-structuring of programs at the University. The new curricula of the Department have been prepared by incorporating inputs, comments, and suggestions forwarded from stakeholders, staff members, former graduates of the Departments, and other scholars. Accordingly new relevant lecture and practical courses have been included. All minor courses for the Education majors have been customized. The issue of availability of enough textbooks, reasonable staff student ratio and instituting responsive bureaucracy were some of comments raised.There was a common understanding among the Stakeholders that the theoretical knowledge of the graduates of chemistry is adequate. However, the following were some of the deficiencies identified from our graduate

• Lack of practical skills.
• Lack of communication skills (self-expression). They are seriously handicapped when it comes to preparing written reports.
• Graduates are unable to discharge managerial responsibilities properly due to lack of management skills. They lack leadership qualities.
• Graduates that join the industries have little knowledge of industrial processes.
• Generally, it takes a long time for graduates to familiarize themselves with the working environment.
• Graduates find it very difficult to work in teams.
• Graduates of the education stream lack the knowledge and confidence to demonstrate experiments to their students in the high schools.
• Graduates that join the teaching profession lack the methodology of teaching chemistry.

The following are some of the recommendations made by the Stakeholders to improve the quality of our graduates:

• The practical courses have to be designed in such a way that students get more hands-on experience such that their practical skills improve.
• The curriculum should have provision for students to make presentations, write term papers, and carry out student projects.
• Provisions should be made for the students to develop the culture of working in teams.
• As the secondary school chemistry curriculum includes topics on industrial chemistry, environmental chemistry, agricultural chemistry, etc., the undergraduate chemistry curriculum for would-be teachers should be able to accommodate all these.
• Stakeholders should play an important role in supporting the training of chemists. Summer employment, factory visits, etc., will help students to familiarize themselves with the working environment.
• Students should be encouraged to work on projects that are geared towards solving problems of the industries.

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Finally it was agreed that this type of discussion between the Department and stakeholders should continue in the future. It is through such discussions that the chemistry education can be enriched continuously and can keep pace with the needs of the Country.