With the increasing rate of unemployment in the country, the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has revealed courses that guarantee students employment upon graduation.
While appearing on an interview on a local radio station on Monday, November 29, the university placement Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Agnes Wahome, revealed that the blue economy sector was an under-explored sector in constant need of employees.
Wahome went ahead to state that learning institutions in the maritime sector were not meeting the market demand in the country.
“We have a sector, the blue economy that really needs people to work in there. I was in Mombasa the other day and we signed a partnership with Bandari Maritime Academy and there is so much demand," the CEO stated.
She also disclosed that some of the maritime institutions were offering short courses for graduates in order to meet the high demand in the sector adding that many Kenyans have stereotyped the industry.
"What I learned is that you can go in there with any discipline and do a two-week program to understand safety and the marine environment and they have all these companies coming to look for people to work in thousands. They are not able to provide workers for the sector,
"People looked at that sector and thought that it was a sector for people born and brought up in the Coast," she stated.
Additionally, the KUCCPS CEO explained that many graduates were finding difficulties landing jobs because of the existing loopholes in institutions of higher learning.
"There is a disconnect between what we are teaching and the way the world is moving because we do not have time to go out there and do research. If we did, I don’t think we would be where we are,
"Most of the research done could end up on the shelves because what runs the country is politics. We have seen the need for reform in the education sector and I think the direction is very clear," she expressed.
The sentiments by Wahome come after the University Fund (UF) indicated that the government would revise its formula for allocating funds to public universities. In the new formula, institutions of higher learning will be funded based on the number of employed graduates among others.
“The key performance indicators to be considered will be four-year graduation rate, graduate employability rate (one year after graduation), and research inputs,” UF proposed.
