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The demand for university education has continued to increase in Kenya in recent times with many students who can not qualify directly after pbading their KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) exams using 39; other means to obtain public places. However, as the numbers continue to pbad the doors of knowledge towers, the question now arises as to whether most of the more than 1,000 courses approved by the Commission for University Education (CUE) institutions are worth the paper on which they are written. In other words, most students pursuing various courses at local universities can not get jobs because the courses they followed do not match the demands of the labor market?
The answer would be, most likely! And that's why. The fact that most young people are currently engaged in academic activities that are constantly breaking away from the labor market is beyond doubt. And looking at the list of approved courses published by CUE, some of the more than 1,000 programs are wondering where graduates would be placed to work in this fast-moving world.
These are general courses in
Social Sciences, Human Sciences and Physical Sciences
According to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics of Kenya (KNBS), some seven million Kenyans are currently unemployed. Of these, 1.4 million were desperately looking for work while others gave up looking for work, some opting for further studies to improve their chances.
World Bank data, on the other hand, indicate that one million young people enter the labor market each year in Kenya. It is further estimated that of these new entrants, only one in five are likely to find employment in the formal sector.
Local universities tend to divide and offer all kinds of programs, which they then sell to members of the public, most of whom are unaware of labor market trends. . Later, when these students graduate, they are thrown on the job market with worthless papers.
When job vacancies and job openings do not arrive, these graduates are forced to look for anything to do. When "nothing" happens, some are forced to dig deeper and progress in their studies hoping for better prospects or to change careers, which is radically different from what they've studied at the university. # 39; university.
These courses are worthless and should not be taught by universities, but as observed by Professor Ratemo Michieka, university professor and environmentalist, the demand for these programs on the job market is currently so weak that graduates are literally tarred.
Few Opportunities
"It's not that these courses are not useful, we still need, for example, anthropologists, historians and others The problem is that currently, our level of sophistication and development does not appreciate some of these courses, so they are very few opportunities in the market, "he told People Daily.
rendered some of these courses unmarketable by dividing them so much to an extent to limit the possibilities on the supply. Higher institutions should start thinking about merging some of these courses in order to broaden the scope of the market. "
An audit report on universities published by CUE last year revealed that the duplication of academic programs was based on competition for self-funded students, was endemic in local universities. Former secretary of the Cabinet of Education, Fred Matiang & # 39; i, universities offer "insignificant courses" at the expense of technical courses that are needed in the local labor market and for export He observed that in 2016, universities earned 9,000 Bachelor of Arts degrees, while another 15,000 obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in "insignificant courses", thereby increasing the number of graduates without skills.
"More than 80% of students in universities, including private universities, are enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree, including a Bachelor of Theology. We need all these degrees, but where are the jobs? ", He asked last January during the inauguration of technical and vocational education and training programs (TVET) sponsored by the Wings to Fly program of Equity Bank. According to a study conducted in Australia by professional services firm Ernst and Young (EY), which could also be relevant in Kenya, nearly half of university degrees in Australia could become obsolete within a decade, leaving graduates "More indebted and poor In its report on the University of the Future, EY interviewed more than 3,000 students and employers and more than 50 university leaders, policy makers and observers in its report, which concluded that all institutions would be able to "take the plunge" to deal with the disorganization of the industry.
"The case for change is clear," says the report. "A growing cohort of graduates is leaving the university environment with more debt and fewer job prospects." Some university leaders estimate that about 40% of existing degrees will soon be obsolete. "
The courses that contributed the least to the relevance of employment were the humanities, culture and social sciences, and in the meantime, more than half of employers surveyed said that business and management degrees The report urges universities to collaborate more closely with industry in creating content to produce more graduates ready to work.
This report shines on what can happen in Kenya where the government and most parents are spending huge amounts of money on students for humanism and business courses at the expense of science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses. (STEM) aiming at the realization of Vision 2030 and Four agenda.
And the numbers are surprising. According to the research of Dr. Juma Mukhwana, Dr. Alice Kande and Professor Jackson Too, published last year by the African Journal of Rural Development, more than 1,000 study programs offered by various public and private universities are oriented towards the social sciences
. Research conducted by the trio, which works at the CUE, shows that, according to trends in graduation, 74% of all university students are enrolled in the fields of business, education and the humanities.
In addition, more than 30% of graduating students each year earn degrees in commerce and 20% in education degrees.
Higher Education
The report also states that according to a CUE report, the university student population of 2015 rose to 539,749. While access to the Higher education has been achieved, the quality and relevance of the programs offered remain important.
"Kenya does not produce enough human resources in STEM because currently only 13% of university graduates take STEM courses.
Although there is an acute shortage of manpower in the fields of engineering and medicine, the universities train students (more than necessary) in business, l & rsquo; Education and the arts and humanities. Mukhwana notes in the report.
The report recommends that fragmentation of courses into very thin disciplines be avoided
This is a tragedy because the Kenya Vision 2030 plan, which was established ten years ago, puts the emphasis on medicine , pharmacy, engineering and technical programs. strives to ensure that Kenya becomes a newly industrialized middle-income country by 2030.
"The dominant situation in which humanity's programs dominate the total number of 39 students in universities and aspire to huge national resources is slowing the realization of the vision, a true case for several African countries, "notes the report. The low number of students enrolled in STEM courses is even more doomed by the fact that most students apply to be admitted to these courses, but few of them get opportunities because they fail to get notes and cluster points.
According to John Muraguri, CEO of Central Placement Services of Kenyan Universities and Colleges, some of the most popular academic programs that most students apply to be admitted include medicine, engineering, engineering, and design. Computer science, architecture and actuarial science
. "The popularity of the courses changes from year to year, depending on the career trends, it also depends on how much knowledge the students have about the different courses," he told Daily.
Nevertheless, while most of the programs on the university menu are seriously affected by the unavailability of jobs, the financial gap and debt incurred by tutors and the government to educate these graduates continues to increase each year.
Young people
According to the World Bank, currently private returns (earnings for individuals) of university education are now higher than the returns of the university. However, this is only possible if these graduates are hired, which is a mirage for most young people in countries like Kenya.
The State Report of teaching Africa's top 2015 indicates that at 21% investment return, Africa gets the best returns in the world through investment in higher education. .
Despite the fact that only six percent of young people in sub-Saharan Africa are enrolled in tertiary institutions, compared to the world average of 26 percent. But more disturbingly, it now costs an arm and a leg to take through college a student studying an undergraduate degree for parents and the government, especially now during the era of cost-sharing.
In the original scheme for financing university students, the government paid 70,000 shillings per university program per student, while the guardians paid a fixed sum of 16,000 shillings. The Higher Education Loans Committee (HELB) has taken care of other needs such as accommodation, books, food and other to grant loans ranging from 35,000 shillings to 60 000 shillings a year
. Unit cost, where all academic academic programs have been grouped into 14 groups and the teaching cost of each fixed.
This means that the money allocated to students will defend on the course that they pursue.
This will become scary in the coming years as more and more students continue to be admitted to courses that may be deemed unsatisfactory.
But the $ 6 million question would be: Should universities be allowed to continue to offer mournful courses that serve neither students nor society?
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