Who is to blame for unemployment in Africa, universities or governments?

A few years ago, I wrote an article titled ‘Universities/varsity curricula must be practical’ that was published in, The Herald, Zimbabwe’s most popular and biggest newspaper. It was also republished in various other newspapers and magazines in other African countries. In that article, I argued that theory-based and powered curricula as administered in most African universities, cannot spur a critical mass of skilled graduates needed to transform African economies and called for its total overhaul. In the same article, I called upon African governments to step up funding to their universities and compel them to overhaul cramming-based learning and adopt research-powered learning.
Research-powered learning, especially in the experimental sciences curricula, makes students to gain knowledge of producing inventions, innovations, and ground-breaking technologies, which if backed by supportive government policies, can be a catalyst, in spurring industrial and entrepreneurial development in African countries. It also enables the students from social sciences and humanities field to gain interdisciplinary knowledge that in turn can make them critical thinkers capable of objectively analysing public policies and other issues.
Africa’s skyrocketing unemployment problem, especially youth unemployment that is affecting millions of youth on the continent, is a manifestation of the failure of governments and universities to harmonise their visions into one complimentary vision of finding solutions to the challenges facing the continent. Universities are supposed to be the centre of knowledge production and dissemination where learners are equipped with relevant knowledge and skills that makes them capable of solving societal problems and meeting societal needs. Are African universities serving this purpose fully?
Globally, research is a chief driver of new knowledge and innovation crucial for spurring sustainable industrial and entrepreneurial development, but how much of the research have African universities done or are doing that have translated or are translating into industrial commercial usable products? Why is it that African industries are majorly powered by imported technologies despite the fact that we have engineering and technology faculties at our universities? In the medical field, why is it that all the health complications that require specialised surgeries are mainly done outside Africa with those unable to afford dying miserably despite us having medical schools/faculties at our universities? Why is it that the few molecular biologists in our countries are unable to use computerised technologies to read and analyse the genomes of viruses and only do so after being subjected to re-training by experts trained from abroad?
African governments are supposed to apportion a good percentage of their national budgets for research development, if research, is to result in implementable policies and industrial usable products. But wait a minute!
Looking at countries’ national budgets, how much money in percentage terms do African countries allocate to their institutions for research development?
Governments are also supposed to create a robust favourable environment and opportunities for its employable citizens not only at national level, but also at international level by incorporating in their foreign policies and international relations the issue of systematically and legally transporting their employable labour to other countries where it is needed through bilateral relations, like what Cuba, Russia, China, and India are doing. What are African countries doing in this regard?
For example, on realising that it cannot employ all its trained doctors, Cuba decided to integrate medicine as a fundamental element in its foreign policy and international relations. Today, 80 per cent of doctors and health professionals in Venezuela are Cubans sent by the Cuban government on bilateral arrangement with Venezuelan government. Cuba supplies medical workers in return for oil and gas supplies from Venezuelan government.
As for the Chinese government, where there is Chinese capital and trade, there should be Chinese labour. Many people keep wondering why there is large presence of Chinese engineers, technicians, and traders across Africa and other developing nations, forgetting that, transportation of labour to foreign countries, is a cardinal part of Chinese foreign policy and international relations.
In sum, universities’ curricula must be research derived and interdisciplinary-powered for the graduates to translate the acquired knowledge and skills into industrial usable products. This will also help them to attain critical thinking skills capable of finding solutions to the societal challenges and needs. Therefore, African governments must ably fund their universities for this to happen.

Mr Hategeka is a Uganda-based independent governance researcher, public affairs analyst, and writer.
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