ITUMBI GENERATION: 50% of University Students are half-baked, job dwarfs

June 11, 2014

 
 When recently NIS cast doubts on President Uhuru’s digital media sleuth, Dennis Itumbi, University students lamented that certificate and diploma graduates are denying them their chances.
Now, a highly respected body has confirmed the employers worst fears. Over 50% of Est Africa graduates are half-baked.
They  lack employability skills, technical mastery and basic work-related capabilities, the new survey shows.
The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), a body created to regulate higher education in the region, which conducted the survey, claims the situation simply confirms the concerns among employers that most graduates are not fully prepared for the job market.
The situation, the report which polled employers says, denies all the five countries making up the region the skills needed to drive growth.The study shows that Uganda has the worst record, with at least 63 per cent of graduates found to lack job market skills 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.
The implication is that despite the improvement in university enrolment across the region and the fact that thousands of young people are graduating each year; their qualifications are unable to secure many of them jobs.