ADVERTISEMENT
The Sun Nigeria
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
  • The Sun Foundation
No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
  • The Sun Foundation
No Result
View All Result
The Sun Nigeria
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT
Home World News

African varsities not preparing graduates for the 21st century workplace

19th September 2017
in World News
0
African varsities not preparing graduates for the 21st century workplace
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Across Africa, students arrive on campuses full of hope that a university degree will improve their lives. The reality is far less certain.

In 2014, a British Council study estimated Nigeria’s graduate unemployment at 23.1%. In Kenya, it takes an average of five years for a graduate to find a job. Yet business leaders frequently say there are jobs – just a lack of skilled talent to do them. How can this be?

There are two commonly cited explanations. The first is that financial, human capital and infrastructure constraints have a negative impact on the range and quality of skills students graduate with. The second is the disconnect between what universities teach and the skills needed in the market.

However, another more fundamental explanation has to do with how students are educated, irrespective of what they study or the resource constraints they face. How students learn matters to employers because it shapes how they think and what they do at work.

A growing number of employers are no longer looking for graduates with the most impressive degree certificates. In fact, trailblazers like Ernst & Young have removed degree classifications from their entry requirements because they do not believe that academic success is always a sign of professional success.

A new kind of graduate

Employers are now looking for graduates who can think for themselves, integrate into fast-paced work environments, learn new ways of working and develop creative solutions to real problems. These abilities depend more on how they were taught than what they learned.

We are at a unique moment in the history of education. Information was once scarce but is now everywhere. In the last 15 years, we have also made a giant leap forward in our understanding of how the brain works and how people learn. These developments have radically altered the way we think about higher education.

In the traditional university model, “learning” meant access to information and knowledge, education resources and teaching expertise. Today, technology has made it easier for anyone to get information, knowledge and learning resources.

The advantage retained by the traditional university is in producing and organising knowledge. But academic researchers form a very small percentage of the knowledge workers needed in the information age.

Time to revisit old models

Universities need to rethink their approach to learning if they are to produce people with the critical thinking, leadership, collaboration and problem solving skills needed for modern life.

Learning in many African universities still happens in large lecture halls and rewards the ability to remember and repeat information. Researchers such as Nobel Prize winning physicist Carl Wieman have shown that this is one of the least effective ways of learning.

Effective learning takes three things. First, students must be able to reflect on what they are learning. Reflection helps students assess what they know and what they don’t. It also helps them to integrate new ideas and concepts into their body of knowledge. When students reflect, they strengthen the neural pathways in their brain, and build new pathways that link information that was previously not associated. These links enable critical thinking.

Second, true learning happens when students stop being passive recipients of information and become active experimenters. When students take an active part, they take responsibility for the results and ensure that learning is relevant to them. They develop habits that help them learn later in life, such as self-regulation, motivation and curiosity.

Third, learning happens when students apply new concepts or skills. This is the most natural test for a student’s comprehension of what they are studying. Doing something, receiving feedback about it, refining the approach and then doing it again also builds neural pathways for retrieval and association.

Universities are the planning stage for a society’s aspirations. African universities must begin to produce employable leaders who will meet the challenges that are hindering the continent’s progress. To produce graduates with the appropriate skills and ways of thinking, they will have to change the way they see, design and assess learning. (qz)

Segun Adio

Segun Adio

Related Posts

UN Chief to meet eastern Libya commander as fighters close in on Tripoli
World News

Guterres condemns attack on UN’s helicopter in DR Congo

6th February 2023
UN Chief morns ex-Pakistani President
World News

UN Chief morns ex-Pakistani President

6th February 2023
How wife of a Nigerian pastor was killed in the US
Cover

How wife of a Nigerian pastor was killed in the US

5th February 2023
Next Post
Japan PM Abe mulls snap election amid N’ Korea crisis

Japan PM Abe mulls snap election amid N' Korea crisis

ORO FEMALE FESTIVAL

Lagos police boss re-affirms commitment to reduce crime

Hillary Clinton says election results could be fake

Hillary Clinton says election results could be fake

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Highlights

Anambra: Ekwunife to Opponents: Compete with me on Devt’l projects not wealth ratings

Coffey, Foxx join BABUSA as board members

Tinubu begs for calm over fuel, new naira notes scarcity

Civil society groups protest Okowa’s N120bn loan

Wood, furniture sector of MAN faults lifting ban on wood, charcoal

New naira: Lawyers, CSOs hail court ruling

Trending

FG unveils new policy to track spending Feb 10
National

FG unveils new policy to track spending Feb 10

7th February 2023
0

From Uche Usim, Abuja Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Federal Government will on February 10 unveil a new...

Bauchi: Atiku, Okowa, Ayi, governors flag off PDP campaign in North East

Bauchi: Atiku, Okowa, Ayi, governors flag off PDP campaign in North East

7th February 2023
APC leadership admits internal forces working against Tinubu

APC leadership admits internal forces working against Tinubu

7th February 2023
Anambra: Agulu, Aguluzuigbo adopt Ekwunife for Senate, say Lawmaker’s performance excellent

Anambra: Ekwunife to Opponents: Compete with me on Devt’l projects not wealth ratings

7th February 2023
Coffey, Foxx join BABUSA as board members

Coffey, Foxx join BABUSA as board members

7th February 2023
ADVERTISEMENT

Follow us on social media:

Latest News

  • FG unveils new policy to track spending Feb 10
  • Bauchi: Atiku, Okowa, Ayi, governors flag off PDP campaign in North East
  • APC leadership admits internal forces working against Tinubu
  • Anambra: Ekwunife to Opponents: Compete with me on Devt’l projects not wealth ratings
  • Coffey, Foxx join BABUSA as board members
  • Tinubu begs for calm over fuel, new naira notes scarcity
  • Civil society groups protest Okowa’s N120bn loan
  • Wood, furniture sector of MAN faults lifting ban on wood, charcoal
  • New naira: Lawyers, CSOs hail court ruling
  • More knocks for Governor Okowa as group decries under-funding of DESOPADEC
  • African rights centre says court action on naira currency in order
  • Dabiri-Erewa: Killing of 16 Nigerians in Bukina Faso callous
  • Fuel tanker crushes student to death in Niger
  • Arewa, Ohanaeze, Yoruba youth leaders hail Judiciary
  • Buhari launches 2nd Nigeria’s review report, says peer review good for strong leadership
  • Cross River 2023: Bendeghe-Ekim community endorse Onor
  • Senator Adeola lifts 5,500 traders with grants in Ogun West
  • PDP, APC lose members to NNPP in Ondo
  • Ikenga Ugochinyere’s house attacked again by gunmen
  • Pakistan govt to jail people ridiculing army, judiciary for five years

Categories

  • Abuja Metro
  • Anambra Watch
  • Arts
  • Broken Tongues
  • Business
  • Business Week
  • Cartoons
  • Citizen Joe
  • Columns
  • Cover
  • Culture
  • Duro Onabule
  • Editorial
  • Education Review
  • Effect
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Events
  • Features
  • Femi Adesina
  • Food & Drinks
  • Frank Talk
  • Funke Egbemode
  • Gallery
  • Global Square by Kenneth Okonkwo
  • Health
  • Insights
  • Kalu Leadership Series
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Letters
  • Lifeline
  • Lifestyle
  • Literary Review
  • Marketing Matters
  • Muiz Banire
  • National
  • News
  • Offside Musings
  • Opinion
  • oriental news
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • PressClips
  • Public Sphere
  • Ralph Egbu
  • Shola Oshunkeye
  • Sideview
  • South-west Magazine
  • Sponsored Post
  • Sporting Sun
  • Sports
  • Sun Girl
  • Tea Time
  • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
  • The Sun Awards Live
  • The Sun TV
  • Thoughts & Talks
  • Time Out
  • Today's cover
  • Tola Adeniyi
  • Travel
  • Travel & Tourism
  • Trending
  • TSWeekend
  • Turf Game
  • Uncategorized
  • Updates
  • Views from Abroad
  • Voices
  • World
  • World News
  • About Us
  • Paper Ad Rate
  • Online Ad Rate
  • Change of Name
  • The Team
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
  • The Sun Foundation

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.