By Arafat Ndugga
In modern day, for one to be eligible for work at corporate levels, University education is principle. Not many make to this point but rather join the tertiary education. However, half of those who make it to the universities in East Africa and manage to graduate lack employability skills, technical mastery and basic work-related capabilities.
This is according to a recent study on East African Universities. This implies that despite the improvement in university enrollment across the region and the fact that thousands of students are graduating each year; their qualifications are unable to secure many of them jobs. According to the study, Uganda has the worst record, with at least 63 per cent of graduates found to lack skills in the job market followed closely by Tanzania where 61 per cent of graduates are ill-prepared. In Burundi and Rwanda, 55 per cent and 52 per cent of graduates respectively are perceived to be incompetent while in Kenya, 51 per cent of graduates are believed to be unfit for jobs.
Fingers have been pointed to the falling quality of education as a result of universities admitting more students than they can handle and lacking adequate teachers. Education experts and university administrators have however said that additional enrollment can only be handled if governments channeled more funds into higher education, so institutions can afford to expand infrastructure and hire extra tutors. The high unemployment rate is also precipitated by increased shunning of graduates by employers in favor of highly skilled personnel.
