CHUONI 254

University education is out of touch with the reality

As a university scholar and teacher, I have personally witnessed many cases of mismatch between universities’ approach to teaching and what industry requires of a university graduate.

I grew up in a small village in Western Kenya where university graduates were not as common as they are nowadays. That was the mid 80s. Since then things have changed. Universities are now income-generating ventures whose primary objective is no longer provision of quality scholars but to make money at the expense of the learner. The situation is even worse in many private universities.

There are several reasons why university education is seen to be out of touch with reality: First, the research which is a product of the universities is hardly consumed by the intended users of the findings which includes the Government, the business community as well as the wider society. In this era where information and communication technology is an integral part of everything, the focus of research among other things should be directed towards adopting emerging technologies. This should be accompanied by adoption of primary technologies in this field of ICT as the only way to become fully industrialized by 2030.

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Still on the research front, the academic researches being churned yearly from universities are immense but such works are often left to gather dust on the shelves of the university libraries. Apart from being published in revered journals and earning one a master’s degree or doctorate, there is no other useful application, commercial or otherwise. Such academic papers will only be useful as long as all the stakeholders of the research are involved in the consumption of the research findings.

There have been many occasions where the general public has raised the alarm over the relevance of university education compared to what employers require. Many a time, employers have preferred diploma graduates than degree holders in similar jobs. This is partly true owing to the partial or complete lack of training facilities especially laboratory equipment for the key technical areas in the universities.

Many universities in Kenya are busy producing graduates in Engineering, Sciences and related courses without having a single modern equipment in their laboratories or only having a handful of dilapidated often equipment of outdated technology. The issue is not lack of funding alone but is due to a number of other reasons: Corruption, carefree attitudes by technicians, lack of knowledge about modern technologies among a plethora of other reasons.

Lack of proper mechanisms for university –industry linkages are also to blame. Whilst the Kenya Government has been in the forefront in the recent past by introducing compulsory and paid internships for the college and university students, attachment cannot be the only solution. Why not also attach university lecturers who do not have industry background?. Is the Government required through the Ministry of Education or individual colleges/universities to prepare a special curriculum guide for industrial attachments? In addition, one thing that is lacking in Kenya is where the Government has failed to completely implement the primary manufacturing model in Kenya.

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The university graduates we send out to the market every year especially engineers seem to be misplaced, so to speak. Whereas universities train qualified mechanical design and production engineers, there is no machine to design,so our engineers end up as maintenance technicians. In fact one cannot realize the difference between an engineer and a technologist, a technologist and a technician, a technician and an artisan.

The writer , Soita Juma,  is a PhD student in Business Administration at the University of Nairobi with major in Operations and Technology Management. He is an Assistant Lecturer of Operations and Supply Chain Management with the Technical University of Kenya and the University of Nairobi.

By Soita Justus Juma

Ms Gladys Kanini registers for the Huduma Number’s National Integrated Identity Management Systems at Manyatta market in Embu County yesterday. [Standard ]

Unemployment in Kenya

There is this job requirement especially in public sector appointments that one must meet the threshold of Chapter 6 of our constitution. Then they state that one must have clearance from HELB, EACC, CRBs, certificate of good conduct, KRA tax compliance etc etc Now, I think Kenyans in our characteristic fashion are out doing ourselves with stupidity. These requirements are being demanded even for very lowly jobs like accounts assistant, HR assistants, secretary, junior IT etc most of which are entry level. 

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In my opinion, the youth are being denied employment opportunities using this chapter six nonsense. How would a fresh graduate get a clearance say from HELB when he has not even gotten a job to pay his first installment. How is that youth who keeps getting short term odd jobs just to survive and life is so difficult that he is unable to pay his mshwari loan or any other loan, supposed to get clearance from the credit reference bureau? He is listed in the first place because of lack of money and that is why he is looking for a job. So to be indebted is a crime now? 

How does a tax compliance certificate help when it is required of someone who has never even earned and has therefore never paid any tax? How do these useless certificates of “Good” conduct help in a country where the rate of crimes recorded to police is less than 1% and the police do not even have a central database. How many people are walking our streets who have fleeced companies of millions, got discovered, got the sack and a disclaimer photo in the papers, but because their employers never followed the matter legally, their criminal past will never appear anywhere when CID is looking for their criminal records in order to give them the Certificate of Good Conduct.

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More importantly, has this chapter six stopped the big guys from fleecing Kenyans billions from public coffers? Did chapter six stop CS Wario, Ann Waiguru, Ngilu, Rotich, Ruto etc ? Did chapter six stop Joho from importing uncustomed and undeclared contraband sugar? I say this chapter six nonsense is being misused greatly. Some of these organizations asking for chapter six requirements do not even qualify for chapter six themselves. Some county governments and parastatals are indebted heavily to the tune of billions to a point where some utility companies have sometimes cut off services like water and electricity because of nonpayment yet you find them requiring the chapter six credentials in their advertised jobs. Do they themselves qualify for the credit bureau certification with all those overdue debts? I don’t think so. Nonsense!!! 

RESIST. REVOLT.

READ ALSO : The curse of the First Class Honours from Kenyan universities

MUTE!!!!

Everyone is into transparency these days. You would think you would know all there is to know when you interact with your prof. in college or campus. Would you be wrong? Here are the top five things your prof won’t tell you : 

1. In KENYA, the name of your learning institution does not matter when looking for a job. Where you go to school is not as important as in the past because employers are more focused on skills than the college an individual attended.
2. The most important skills in the market are SOFT skills. These include good communication skills, the ability to work as part of a team and the ability to learn. Beyond that, the skills required will depend on the particular job. 
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3. A first-class honor degree WITHOUT skills is as useless as getting a FAIL. Employers are no longer excited by the no. of A's in your transcript since the QUALITY of education in Kenya is beyond remedy. This is a result of cheating, Sexually transmitted grades, forged transcripts, outlived curriculum etc. Employers are more focused on skills than shinning academic transcripts.
4. More than 600,000 young graduates in Kenya join the job market each year, but only about 40,000 succeed in securing formal employment.The education system needs to be revised to churn out students that are self-reliant and not wholly dependent on getting employed. Students need to leave school with skills that they can turn into business opportunities that will help them lead a good life.
5. Most of the courses offered in private and public universities are not tailored to the job market needs. This mismatch of skills is to be blamed for graduates failing to secure a job or adapt to their jobs.
   
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So, what is the way forward?

University students in Kenya should wake up from the slumber and realize that the higher the number of learned people in the society, the fewer the employment opportunities in the country. We are no longer living in the 19th century when all fresh graduates were guaranteed of securing a formal job.

Comrades should wake up from their comfort zones and make use of their different skills and talents to start their own business enterprises. 

To those who would still like to be employed, the hiring process is about much more than having an unbeatable transcript or the institutions where you graduated from. Many employers not only match candidate soft and technical skills, experience with a job opening’s stated requirements, but also carefully consider those elusive qualities such as personality, temperament, career progression and a host of other legitimate elements.

 It is therefore important for students to work on their personal development to avoid future disappointments as a job seeker or entrepreneur! This covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance the quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations.
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Silvano Ngacha is a passionate IT Professional, well versed in deploying Cloud Solutions, Business Intelligence, Web designing and development, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing. He loves to write posts for his blog in his spare time. Besides Blogging, he is interested in career guidance, reading, traveling and horse riding. Follow me on Twitter: @silvanongacha

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How to overcome Scandals in Kenya

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Stay real, stay loyal, or stay away from me.

 Do you have a story/article you would like to share with us? Kindly send the article to: chuonikenya@gmail.com and we shall publish your article for free. Thank you.