The mismatch between the quality of graduates and the demands of the labour market has become the subject of concern among employers, training institutions and policymakers alike.
The unemployment rate among Rwandans dropped to 14.5 per cent in February 2019, down from 16 per cent the year before.
According to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, unemployment rate, is more rampant among the youth, where it is at 18.7 per cent.
University graduates are among the unemployed.
As the unemployment rate bites, employers continue to complain about the mismatch between the demands of the job market and the skills that university graduates possess.
Dr Charles Muligande, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University of Rwanda (UR), acknowledges that there’s a skills mismatch, but said that the university was working towards addressing the issue.
"Some of the programmes were developed in previous periods when there were few resources to assess what is really needed at the market,” he said, adding; "As a result, we ended up developing programmes that are producing graduates who do not fit the market needs.”
What needs to be done?
Muligande says that mobilising resources is the starting point because, that way, the university can be able to do comprehensive research to identify the skills gap, and map out skills profile that are needed.
Theoneste Ntagengerwa, the spokesperson of Private Sector Federation (PSF), said the skills audit is indeed needed.
"The gap is evident. But it can be a result of many problems like teaching content that are irrelevant to what’s on the market, lack of standardized equipment to teach the right content, and many others,” he said.
Therefore, he added, we need to have a cooperation framework with higher education institutions, so as to first do a joint research to assess current issues that cause the mismatch, and find the relevant solutions.
Content repackaging
Iris Irumva, Managing Director of ITM Africa, an HR firm, said that learning institutions should start adopting content with employability skills.
"All institutions in the education sector have to start teaching employability skills, and focus on problem-based learning approach as one of the ways to breach that gap,” she said.
"They should start helping students to develop soft skills, which are really needed in the labour market. They include problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and personal development, and make sure they spend much time on the field for case studies.”
Muligande explained that there’s need to train the educator if universities are to train employable people who are flexible because the labour market keeps changing.