Local universities are working towards tailoring the Kenyan academic world to be in line with the realities of today’s job market.
Five Kenyan universities got together last week at a conference to chart the way forward in increasing graduates’ chances of getting employed.
They also aimed at inculcating entrepreneurial skills that will place them at a position to become self-employed after graduating.
The conference hoped to share knowledge on possible toolkits for creating entrepreneurial universities in Africa.
The move comes at a time when there is unemployment crisis among the Kenyan youth, with the economy unable to create adequate jobs for the bulging population of young people.
Speaking at the conference hosted by Mount Kenya University, MKU vice chancellor Deogratius Jaganyi lauded the move by the universities.
“Universities changing their approach to training and equipping students with entrepreneurial skills and mindsets could change the unemployment scenario in the country,” he said.
Jaganyi said this included holding the hands of students willing to venture into business, especially those who are innovative and guiding them to get patents for their innovations.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, there are an estimated 2.5 million jobless Kenyans, with 1.25 million of them no longer actively searching for employment.
Jaganyi said the move would also help to restore the hope of youth still hunting for jobs who end up remaining idle at home.
“Entrepreneurial universities create jobs and also train their students on job creation. They get into patenting agreements to create new companies, which ultimately lead to more jobs and wealth creation for socio-economic growth.
Entrepreneurial universities also fully embrace university-industry collaborations, community-driven outreach programmes and generally seek every available way of being relevant to the community,” he said.
He further acknowledged the importance of developing soft skills, innovation and being technology-driven, saying those are key hallmarks for an entrepreneurial university.
The conference was organised by the Collaboration for Entrepreneurial Universities and Developing Entrepreneurial Universities in Kenya projects.
The participating Kenyan universities were Mount Kenya University, Kenyatta University, Karatina University, Chuka University and Dedan Kimathi University of Technology.
It also had participants from German universities that included Bonn Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Leuphana University, University of Leipzig, Wismar University of Applied Sciences and University of Saarland.
CEPU has been working with Kenyan universities to improve the employability of their graduates.
It is currently running the Student Training in Entrepreneurship Promotion at Kenyatta University and Mount Kenya University.
DePUK supports the development of an entrepreneurship ecosystem through a project run by University of Saarland in collaboration with local universities.
Jaganyi said through these efforts, students and communities would be guided on job creation, with communities and industry stakeholders being brought on board.
“Additionally, a university’s capacity to provide an interphase between research output and community engagement is yet another vital entrepreneurial element,” he added.
These milestones, Jaganyi said, would help remove youth disillusionment due to job scarcity.
“Coupled with conducive policy framework at the county and national government levels, it will be safer to live in with reduced incidences of crime, radicalisation and other dehumanising situations brought about by unemployment,” he said.
-Edited by SKanyara
