According to the International Labor
Organization (ILO) global youth unemployment rate is on the rise. The
deterioration of employment prospects for youth is expected to be worse in
developing countries where official unemployment figures understate the severity
of youth labor market challenges. Moreover, the informal sector, which creates
about 90% of new jobs, does not pay young people enough to lift themselves out
of poverty.
A survey commissioned by the East African
Institute of the Aga Khan University in 2014/15 revealed that 1 in 2 students
who graduated from East African universities were unemployed. This is hardly
surprising. A survey commissioned by the East Africa Business Council and the
Inter-University Council of East Africa showed that about 53 percent of East
Africa’s graduates were not employable. Moreover, Africa’s stellar GDP growth has
not produced commensurate jobs for the youth.
It is understandable that universities are
under pressure to prove their relevance by producing graduates who are work
ready. Similarly governments are under pressure to provide the right incentives
to address the structural imbalances in the economy, which stifle equitable
growth and job creation. This blistering
summer of Africa’s jobless growth must come to an end.
On the role of universities, to what extent
should curricular be aligned to industry needs? Is it the role of university
just produce to work-ready graduates? What really is the public purpose of
higher education? What should be the attributes or unique qualities of a university-educated
individual?
There must be a higher public purpose for
investing in higher education. That purpose is certainly more than training
technically competent automatons. Non-degree granting institutions such as
polytechnics should produce all kinds of technicians; accountants, plumbers,
chefs, pilots and masons.
Yes, it is important and desirable that
young people graduating from our universities have skills and able to find or
create work and earn and income, live fulfilling lives and contribute to their
societies. And there is no doubt that Africa needs more university-educated
citizens, especially given the current unemployment crisis and the myriad
challenges we face now and in the future.
It is difficult to contemplate the role of
university in this century without thinking about leadership – visionary and
ethical leadership. There is no doubt that the next generation will face
challenges far more complex and dire than those we are grappling with today. Leadership
in the 21st century and beyond will require complex, convergent
thinking that transcends disciplines, analytical and moral reasoning and
cultural intelligence.
African universities must educate a
generation of citizens that can think, create, innovate and solve problems. While
there is no universal agreement on what a university graduate should look like,
there is emerging consensus that the supreme purpose of universities is to
raise a generation of T-type individuals, who have unassailable cross-disciplinary
depth crowned by expansive, connective and integrative breadth.
We must resist the temptation to proliferate
universities and flood labor markets with half-decent graduates. Universities
must not be vocational factories, which produce unthinking automatons. East
Africa deserves better.
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