How varsities can train for evolving job market

In October 2019, the Harvard Business Review published an article with a headline “Does Higher Education Still Prepare People for jobs?”

The post sought to address what many industries face across the globe today; the gap between what students learn in college and what a job requires. The topic is a cause for concern considering the number of students graduating from higher education institutions as well as those joining.

According to the study, as the number of graduates increases, the value added from what they learned in college decreases. However, there is a conspicuous premium on education in some parts of the world, for instance, in sub-Saharan Africa where degrees are relatively rare a college degree will boost earnings by over 20 percent.

Incidentally, contemporary society has changed, and university qualification is demanded by many employers irrespective of whether the degree is ideal for a specific job. This has led to some industries stagnating growth due to limiting their pool of labour to university graduates.

On the other hand, amid societal disruptions, hierarchical organisations are facing a new type of challenge. The salient tag of war they encounter in this sense is that of setting newly hired university graduates against the older employees who pack a wealth of skills and experience. Now the difference between the two is that a newly hired university graduate packs a set of new skills that the organisation could do with is more adaptable and is more focused on gratification rather than holding on to an old mindset of having a permanent job.

With all intents and purposes, they come well ready to disrupt the status quo as they seek to make a difference.

Players across all sectors of the economy are at a crossroads. They are unsure of whether to remain with the old workforce and risk being redundant and obsolete or go with the new generation and trudge through an abyss of an uncertain future. The question then remains, who is best placed at running the modern organisation and how should institutions of higher learning prepare them for the future?

Today’s work environment has been disrupted by various factors such as technology, globalisation, equality for all including people living with disabilities and those from vulnerable communities, uncertain markets, and cost fluctuations yet the demanded return on investments is high. The prevalence of new jobs, therefore, has been witnessed in the informal sector especially in sub-Sahara Africa and graduates have resolved to do these menial jobs regardless of the peanut pay they get.

The youth resolve to work in the informal sector as it is less bureaucratic, and it offers room for innovation and the provision of swift solutions to problems that affect their communities. This has been further encouraged by the fact that sub-Sahara Africa has the fastest growing youth population with more than 226 million individuals aged between 15 and 24. The number is set to increase by 42 percent by the year 2030.

Meanwhile, some higher learning institutions are still imparting students with knowledge and skills that do not apply in today’s job market. A report by the British Council took a grim snapshot of the situation – where many graduates across sub-Saharan Africa are ill-prepared for the present and future jobs. It follows that those best placed to drive modern organisations should be adaptive, agile, problem solvers, and with technological ability to identify and predict future societal pain points and propose practical solutions for them.

Seeing as to how employability development opportunities are affected to some extent by the discipline of a student, higher learning institutions should focus their strategic and operational activities not only on teaching but mostly on learning, research, innovation, entrepreneurship, public service, and community engagement.

Although some career disciplines readily lend themselves to developing skills required in today’s workforce, other programmes such as engineering, technology, and design requires that a student be active-oriented with activities that foster employability.

Nonetheless, it is particularly gratifying to note that many institutions of higher learning, including the United States International University (USIU-Africa), offers programmes that are more student-centred to provide room for brainstorming, group projects, role-playing, developing action plans, simulations, among various other problem-solving tools depending on the kind of job skills a student should acquire.

Such courses revolve around entrepreneurial education and scientific and technological-oriented courses that solve societal problems while equipping them with a wealth of knowledge regardless of their area of expertise.

Through these strategies, higher learning institutions do not only provide new and effective ideas for the job market but also churn out students that are highly competitive and skilled. The youth resolve to work in the informal sector as it is less bureaucratic.