Professor Mayunga Nkunya
The Executive Secretary for the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) Professor Mayunga Nkunya has said that Tanzania still lags behind in university students’ enrollment rate compared to other East African countries.
Professor Nkunya made the observation
early this week in an interview during the second East African Community
university students’ debates on EAC integration organized by Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German agency
for international development.
Professor Nkunya said in spite of the
government’s attempts to increase the number of students enrolled in
universities, there is a need to review the programs to increase
students’ confidence and professionalism after completing their studies.
That would enable them to tune themselves better to the labour market
in East Africa and beyond.
With Tanzania aiming to reach a target of
300,000 students in its universities by 2015, the Minister for Education
and Vocational Training Dr Shukuru Kawambwa told Parliament that a
total of 65,000 students are this year being enrolled in local
universities.
However the number is well below those admitted to universities in other East African countries, Prof. Nkunya noted.
For instance, in Kenya the Economic Survey
2010 reported a total of 143,000 students in public universities in
2009, up from 101,000 in 2008.
And in 2011, the country’s Joint Admission
Board (JAB), which handles admissions of government-sponsored
undergraduates to public universities, decided on a double intake of new
undergraduate students.
This enabled admissions of 32,611 students who
sat for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in 2009 and
2010 out of 96,000 who qualified.
These statistics are for public
universities only in Kenya – while the Tanzanian target includes both
private and public universities.
In Uganda, enrolment in public
universities shot up when the National Resistance Movement took power
more than 20 years ago, from about 5,000 students to more than 100,000
today.
According to a 2008 Uganda Bureau of Statistics report, in that
year the country’s 27 universities had 92,605 students.
According to Prof. Nkunya, many students
fail to join universities because of the poor quality of education and
curriculum used in high schools.
In an envisaged leap forward, there is
need to harmonize education systems so as to increase student’s
enrollment in universities as well as integration with other
universities.
He said the EAC is still faced with lack
of employment opportunities for fresh graduates, while the situation is
worse for those who leave schools at lower levels, contributing to
criminality.
Universities provide education that does
not prepare students to creation of entrepreneurial capacity for
empowering individuals to create self employment and employment for
others, the don indicated.
There is need to establish strong ties
between private sector and employers on one hand, to work hand in hand
with universities so as to project students capability for employment or
self employment
“There is a need to expand employment
opportunities so as to reduce the number of youths who are unemployed in
both regional groups,” he stated.
Currently the council is working closely
with the East African Business Council (EABC) so as to make sure youths
are given skills and knowledge that will enable them to be self
employed.
With a tone of disappointment, he said
that it was expected that communities near agricultural universities
like Sokoine University in Morogoro would set examples for agricultural
communities elsewhere in the country.
Our education system does not give
students the opportunity to link with the outside world and communities,
and oversee opportunity and challenges ahead, he stated.
“Universities should think outside the box
and go beyond the mark on how students are going to contribute their
education to the society,” he added.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
