UDSM, private sector body ink deal to improve graduates’ employability

Dar es Salaam. Long-standing complaints from employers about university graduates missing the skills and behavioural traits required in the job market may soon come to an end if the implementation of a new strategic collaboration between universities and the business sector is successful.

Universities were once thought of as centres for producing talented graduates who worked in a variety of industries, but experts have recently said that this perception has changed due to the technological requirements of the job market.

Following this situation, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has recently embarked on urging educational institutions to develop appropriate ways to produce graduates who will be in line with the current needs of the job market.

The move has led to a re-examination of education policies and curricula.

As a way of rethinking the solutions, the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (Ruwasa) aiming to strengthen partnerships.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Prof Caroline Nombo, who witnessed the signing ceremony, directed all universities through the Higher Education for Economic Transformation (HEET) projects to follow suit.

“Today we have signed an agreement between UDSM and TPSF as well as Ruwasa to see how this cooperation between universities and industry will bear fruit for our main agenda of imparting necessary skills to our graduates,” she said.

“We want all universities, especially public ones, to make sure that they strengthen collaborations with the private sector through MoUs as a proper way to formalise partnerships,” she directed.

Prof Nombo noted that employers, especially the private sector, were important stakeholders in strengthening the country’s education by formalising partnerships with universities.

“We will jointly complete the plan to produce graduates who have the knowledge and skills needed in the job markets if we follow these agreements where employers will help the academia to know the exact skills that our graduates need to have.

We want the private sector to be part of the educational system that will have the responsibility to help define knowledge, provide ideas and funds for research as well.”

The acting executive director of TPSF, Mr Raphael Maganga, noted that between 100,000 and one million students graduate from various institutions of higher education every year in the country, but only less than 15 percent are employed in the formal sector.

That’s why, he said, the MoU between us will ensure that together they can solve the challenges by looking at how Tanzanian companies can hire more graduates from local universities.

“We will also highlight how our companies will develop the skills of university students so that when they graduate, they can be easily employed and self-employed,” he added.

He said that TPSF had many member companies that were present in every sector of the economy and that, as per the MoU, “We will start special programmes to help develop graduates’ skills through internships, field attachments, and other placements.”

“We want all Tanzanian companies to have these programmes that will welcome students and college graduates to get the skills needed in various sectors. Our task now is to do sensitization to ensure that all our companies start those programmes,” he said.

Having been conducting tracer studies by physically visiting some major employers to find out the existing shortcomings that thwarted their graduates’ employability, UDSM launched its first industrial advisory committees in March this year.

In this regard, Vice Chancellor Prof William Anangisye said the five-year contract they signed will further strengthen the efforts already in place. “We want our people here at the university to collaborate with colleagues in the industry to find solutions to the challenges facing Tanzanians.”

He noted that even with its outstanding history, UDSM felt that it could not go alone in the journey of giving knowledge and skills to young Tanzanians.

“We want to cooperate to overcome current challenges. We have the manpower in the sense of various professionals who will also help the private sector grow further in areas of agriculture, mining, tourism, and industrialization,” he said.