NEWS
Graduate numbers increase as vacancies for right jobs shrink
University of Rwanda graduands toss their hats in the air as they cerebrate during the institution's second graduation ceremony on July 28, 2015. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Posted Saturday, August 1 2015 at 09:13
IN SUMMARY
- Despite a decade of strong economic growth with an average of slightly over seven per cent, Rwanda still suffers from unemployment as this growth has not been sufficiently translated into productive jobs.
- Analysts say that for Rwanda, as a country of young people, more efforts are needed to create productive jobs given that some of the employed are also in low-paying jobs.
- But there is also concern that at least half of the graduates produced by universities in the East African Community (EAC) lack employability skills, technical mastery and basic work-related capabilities.
Rwanda faces an uphill task of creating thousands of jobs outside agriculture in the coming months in order to absorb thousands of fresh graduates in its bid to reduce poverty and sustain economic growth
Despite a decade of strong economic growth with an average of slightly over seven per cent, Rwanda still suffers from unemployment as this growth has not been sufficiently translated into productive jobs.
This week, as thousands of students graduated in different fields at the University of Rwanda, a key concern for fresh graduates and their families is finding decent employment. More than 1,300 people graduated in engineering fields such as Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, bio-organic chemistry, environmental management and biotechnology.
Analysts say that for Rwanda, as a country of young people, more efforts are needed to create productive jobs given that some of the employed are also in low-paying jobs.
In particular, the government has to do more to increase access to finance and encourage entrepreneurship among fresh graduates. Most fresh graduates prefer to look for white-collar jobs, hence the need for a mentality shift to encourage entrepreneurship.
While the country's economic structure is shifting from agriculture to the service sector, which currently accounts for the largest share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) accounting for about 47 per cent ahead of agriculture, the sector has yet to generate enough jobs to absorb fresh graduates.
Analysts say the sector is not well anchored in terms of the necessary skills to facilitate value addition at the production phase and spur industrialisation.
"When you export raw materials, you are exporting jobs," said Antonio Pedro, the director of the the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa's (Uneca) sub- regional office for Eastern Africa, which is based in Kigali. "The higher you go in the up-stream production stages, the more valuable it gets, and the more sophisticated skills and technology are needed.
"Because we don't have these, we lose so much."
Mr Pedro argued that Rwanda, just like other countries in the region, has to insist on value addition.
"There is a need for deepening and diversification of skills locally, as well as investment in human resource broadly," he said.
The UN official added that there is a need for Rwanda to couple the science and technology innovation policy with the science sector if the country is to achieve its target of being a knowledge-based economy.
"The more you are high in knowledge intensity of your population, the high you are in the value chain gain," said Mr Pedro. "The reason we are behind is because we don't have skills."
But there is also concern that at least half of the graduates produced by universities in the East African Community (EAC) lack employability skills, technical mastery and basic work-related capabilities.
According to a recent report by the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), a body created to regulate higher education in the regional bloc, most of the universities produce half-baked graduates.
Posted by: Nzinink <nzinink@yahoo.com>
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