"Graduate Recruitment In Africa" : A view by Erasmus Pongo, International Strategies Trust Consultant.
I
have been both an academic researcher and a graduate professional in
Africa and have gained significant experience in the field of
recruitment. Over the past three years I have noted a number of
challenges that have arisen in the recruitment of new university
graduates. Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing
economies. The continent has seen major increases in foreign investment,
tourism, and trade over the past decade and more, but Sub-Saharan
countries also remain heavily reliant on resource industries. This means
they remain exposed to the inevitable ups and downs in world commodity
prices, including oil. And this in turn provides many governments in the
region with a ready motivation to expand service and technology
industries and to move generally toward more diversified knowledge
economies.
The sense of urgency that many Sub-Saharan governments feel in this respect is heightened by the fact that the region is also home to the fastest-growing youth population in the world. There are 226 million 15-to-24-year-olds in Sub-Saharan Africa today and that cohort is set to grow by more than 40% by 2030. “This so-called ‘youth bulge’ can be a motor for prosperity for all in the region if it is appropriately harnessed, but the prospects for doing so depend to a large extent on universally available and high quality education at all levels,” (Pongo, 2016). “Failure to address the educational aspirations and needs of the youth is likely to lead not only to sluggish economic growth, but also to youth unrest, a lingering sense of injustice and lack of purpose, and, in the most extreme cases, to extremism and violence.”
This has led to some truly remarkable increases in university enrolment. In Kenya, for example, the number of university students doubled between 2012 and 2015 alone. The number of full-time students in public universities in Ghana increased by 76% between 2008/09 and 2014/15, and, over the same period, the number of students in the country’s private universities grew by 272%.
More broadly, only Asia grew faster than Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of total higher education enrollment between 1999 and 2013. The region saw its head count of higher ed students grow from 2.3 to 6.6 million over those 14 years. And yet, participation rates in Africa continue to lag well behind global norms. The gross enrollment ratio across Sub-Saharan Africa sits at about 8.2% today, but this compares to a global rate of nearly 33%.
This gap underscores the magnitude of the challenge facing Sub-Saharan educators and policy makers: not only must higher education systems absorb the dramatic increases in student numbers that they have already seen, they also need to expand a great deal more if they are to accommodate the growing youth populations across Africa.
The gross enrollment ratio in Kenya, for example, is still around only 4%. Practically speaking, a large majority of Kenyans simply do not have access to university education, with only about half of qualifying students able to obtain a place in a public university.
The situation is much the same in Nigeria, where the higher education system is nowhere near keeping up with demand and where only one in five applicants can find a place in a public university.
All of this growth has also put considerable pressure on quality controls in Sub-Saharan institutions. “Attention to quantity has not always been accompanied by an adequate emphasis on quality,” (Pongo, 2016). “Many institutions suffer from very large class sizes, with numbers in excess of 500 in an undergraduate class being common, on account of the lack of funds to recruit lecturers and, in some cases, a shortage of appropriately qualified candidates. In addition, there are complaints of inadequate physical infrastructure, lack of laboratories and equipment for scientific, engineering and agricultural studies, outdated curricula, ineffective pedagogical methods and inefficient administration. In many cases, these challenges are the direct result of a rapid expansion of the system without corresponding increases in funding or concern for the students’ learning experience.”
The situation, however, naturally varies from country to country. In South Africa, for example, graduate unemployment actually declined from 2001 to 2011 (from about 18% to 5% of graduates unemployed). But university enrollment has spiked sharply there as well, nearly doubling between 2000 and 2013, and it remains to be seen if the domestic economy will be able to absorb greater numbers of university graduates at the same rate. National unemployment rates have been stubbornly high in South Africa (the national rate is currently hovering around 26%) and the public sector, which is traditionally a major employer of university graduates, is arguably overbuilt already.
Meanwhile in Kenya, unemployment is especially high – in the range of 67% in 2015 – among those aged 15 to 34. And the job market for university graduates in Nigeria is also very competitive: job openings suitable for university graduates attracted an average of 83 applicants in 2014 (up from 69 applicants in 2010). In Ghana, more than 71,000 graduates enter the job market each year, competing with an estimated 200,000 unemployed graduates in the domestic economy.
I certainly believe that the issue of graduate employability extends well beyond the walls of the university, and that such a broad societal issue will draw on an equally broad group of stakeholders for improvement, including employers and governments.
However, the report concludes with a range of recommendations focused on the universities in Sub-Saharan Africa, and argues for new investments and innovation to improve the quality of instruction and the depth and relevance of the curricula on offer.
It also advocates for expanded career services for students and graduates as well as a stronger role for work placements, volunteering, and service placements in Sub-Saharan university programmes.
The scale of the challenge (and the opportunity) facing the region means that this is likely to be an area of increasing focus going forward, both for local governments and for the international community, including foreign donors, investors, and educators.
A number of Sub-Saharan markets, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana among them, have emerged as significant international education markets over the past decade. And we can expect that the prevailing demographic and economic trends in the region will only add to the opportunity that these markets represent for student recruitment and transnational education in the years ahead.
For feedback, please feel free to get in-touch on: erasmuspong@gmail.com
Thank you !
The sense of urgency that many Sub-Saharan governments feel in this respect is heightened by the fact that the region is also home to the fastest-growing youth population in the world. There are 226 million 15-to-24-year-olds in Sub-Saharan Africa today and that cohort is set to grow by more than 40% by 2030. “This so-called ‘youth bulge’ can be a motor for prosperity for all in the region if it is appropriately harnessed, but the prospects for doing so depend to a large extent on universally available and high quality education at all levels,” (Pongo, 2016). “Failure to address the educational aspirations and needs of the youth is likely to lead not only to sluggish economic growth, but also to youth unrest, a lingering sense of injustice and lack of purpose, and, in the most extreme cases, to extremism and violence.”
The supply-demand gap
Governments across the region have been working to open more university seats, both by converting colleges or university colleges to full public universities, and also by opening the door to greater private-sector provision of higher education.This has led to some truly remarkable increases in university enrolment. In Kenya, for example, the number of university students doubled between 2012 and 2015 alone. The number of full-time students in public universities in Ghana increased by 76% between 2008/09 and 2014/15, and, over the same period, the number of students in the country’s private universities grew by 272%.
More broadly, only Asia grew faster than Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of total higher education enrollment between 1999 and 2013. The region saw its head count of higher ed students grow from 2.3 to 6.6 million over those 14 years. And yet, participation rates in Africa continue to lag well behind global norms. The gross enrollment ratio across Sub-Saharan Africa sits at about 8.2% today, but this compares to a global rate of nearly 33%.
This gap underscores the magnitude of the challenge facing Sub-Saharan educators and policy makers: not only must higher education systems absorb the dramatic increases in student numbers that they have already seen, they also need to expand a great deal more if they are to accommodate the growing youth populations across Africa.
The gross enrollment ratio in Kenya, for example, is still around only 4%. Practically speaking, a large majority of Kenyans simply do not have access to university education, with only about half of qualifying students able to obtain a place in a public university.
The situation is much the same in Nigeria, where the higher education system is nowhere near keeping up with demand and where only one in five applicants can find a place in a public university.
All of this growth has also put considerable pressure on quality controls in Sub-Saharan institutions. “Attention to quantity has not always been accompanied by an adequate emphasis on quality,” (Pongo, 2016). “Many institutions suffer from very large class sizes, with numbers in excess of 500 in an undergraduate class being common, on account of the lack of funds to recruit lecturers and, in some cases, a shortage of appropriately qualified candidates. In addition, there are complaints of inadequate physical infrastructure, lack of laboratories and equipment for scientific, engineering and agricultural studies, outdated curricula, ineffective pedagogical methods and inefficient administration. In many cases, these challenges are the direct result of a rapid expansion of the system without corresponding increases in funding or concern for the students’ learning experience.”
The employability gap
These quality concerns are directly linked to report’s focus on employability of university graduates, a link that is supported by other recent research in the field, including a study by the Inter-University Council for East Africa which estimated that more than half of all graduates in the region are “inadequately prepared for employment.”The situation, however, naturally varies from country to country. In South Africa, for example, graduate unemployment actually declined from 2001 to 2011 (from about 18% to 5% of graduates unemployed). But university enrollment has spiked sharply there as well, nearly doubling between 2000 and 2013, and it remains to be seen if the domestic economy will be able to absorb greater numbers of university graduates at the same rate. National unemployment rates have been stubbornly high in South Africa (the national rate is currently hovering around 26%) and the public sector, which is traditionally a major employer of university graduates, is arguably overbuilt already.
Meanwhile in Kenya, unemployment is especially high – in the range of 67% in 2015 – among those aged 15 to 34. And the job market for university graduates in Nigeria is also very competitive: job openings suitable for university graduates attracted an average of 83 applicants in 2014 (up from 69 applicants in 2010). In Ghana, more than 71,000 graduates enter the job market each year, competing with an estimated 200,000 unemployed graduates in the domestic economy.
I certainly believe that the issue of graduate employability extends well beyond the walls of the university, and that such a broad societal issue will draw on an equally broad group of stakeholders for improvement, including employers and governments.
However, the report concludes with a range of recommendations focused on the universities in Sub-Saharan Africa, and argues for new investments and innovation to improve the quality of instruction and the depth and relevance of the curricula on offer.
It also advocates for expanded career services for students and graduates as well as a stronger role for work placements, volunteering, and service placements in Sub-Saharan university programmes.
The scale of the challenge (and the opportunity) facing the region means that this is likely to be an area of increasing focus going forward, both for local governments and for the international community, including foreign donors, investors, and educators.
A number of Sub-Saharan markets, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana among them, have emerged as significant international education markets over the past decade. And we can expect that the prevailing demographic and economic trends in the region will only add to the opportunity that these markets represent for student recruitment and transnational education in the years ahead.
For feedback, please feel free to get in-touch on: erasmuspong@gmail.com
Thank you !
