Train graduates to fit into job market, CS tells varsities

Universities must train students in courses that meet the needs of the job market, Education CS Fred Matiang’i said Friday.

“Our higher education institutions continue to churn out graduates who are increasingly finding themselves unemployed yet there are Kenyan companies facing difficulties in recruiting workers with an appropriate mix of applicable skills and knowledge,” Dr Matiang’i said at the University of Nairobi’s 56th graduation ceremony.

He encouraged more students to enrol for science, engineering, technology and mathematics courses.

Dr Matiang’i also asked universities to concentrate on their primary mandate of training students for degrees and to leave diploma and certificate courses to middle level institutions.

Universities were told to streamline their record-keeping to ensure students had their results on time and to make “missing marks” a thing of the past.

“The era of missing marks, students progressing to the next level without knowing how they performed in the previous year, and even consultants writing thesis for post-graduate students is over,” Dr Matiang’i said.

He echoed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s speech at a graduation ceremony at Kibabii University last week.

A University of Nairobi alumnus, Dr Matiang’i said no more public universities will be opened following a directive from the President.

He said this decision was made to allow existing ones to grow to world class standards.

He also reiterated that university expansion had been halted until satellite campuses met Commission for University Education standards.

CS Matiang’i ordered universities to phase out non-school based programmes that denied students ample contact with teaching staff.

The university’s Chancellor, Dr Vijoo Rattansi, told the 8,500 graduates that they had received the best education and the country looked up to them for leadership.