University students might have to juggle between studies and jobs for experience if they hope to secure employment after graduation, a new report says.
Those in private universities are more likely to secure a job while still studying.
However, the report notes that most graduates remained less skilled and less competent and an employer was likely to drop a graduate who needed more training.
The State of Graduate Employability in Kenya report was commissioned by the Pan African Foundation and conducted by CPS International in 67 universities and 50 organisations between November and January. It was released on Thursday.
“University graduates who gathered experience prior to graduation had a higher premium to employers thus making them less affordable,” the survey says.
The report notes that employers consider work experience as a crucial asset for new graduates followed by skills, hobbies and talents
Annually, about 27 private universities graduate not more than 500 students while about 21 others representing about 30 per cent graduate between 501-1,000 graduates.
Only seven per cent of the institutions graduated about 5,000 to 7,000 students annually, accounting for the highest number churned out of universities.
The survey shows employers still prefer undergraduate degree holders more than any other qualification, accounting for 52 per cent of those interviewed.
A minority of 2.2 per cent of those interviewed were PhD holders, 6.5 per cent had certificates (10.9), postgraduate diplomas (13.0) and masters degree holders were (15.2).
According to the report, the number of students who manage to secure some form of employment when still studying remains low.
Less than 15 per cent of students in 27 universities managed to get a job while still studying compared 21 who cited a range of 15-30 per cent.
Some 42.9 per cent of universities are ready to work with employers to enhance their curriculum and study programmes to step up employability of their graduates.
Employers who took part in the study ranked basic skills, that is, numeracy, writing, reading and ICT (78.3 per cent) as the most important.
Team working skills followed (65.2), the right work-life attitude (65.1), communication skills (60.9), planning and organizational skills (54.3), decision-making skills (45.7), ability to adapt and act in new situations (39.1), sector-specific skills (34.8), analytical and problem-solving skills (28.3) and foreign language skills(7.0).
The study shows that 81 per cent of employed graduates were from local universities.
The most preferred were business and economic studies graduates (56.5 per cent) followed by engineering (17.4), ICT (4.3), social and behavioural sciences (4.3) and humanities and medical sciences (2.2).
Edited by Henry Makori
