It’s time to talk about the quality of our graduates

The number of universities has been growing rapidly and with them queries about the delivery of quality and relevant education and training to their students.

In a country with more than 40 universities graduating more than 400,000 students every year and growing unemployment levels, the quality of our higher education is definitely a question to ask, especially in as far as wrongful skilling is concerned.

Increasingly, institutions of higher learning are being tasked to prepare students with a diversity of skills including ICT, critical thinking, problem solving, lifelong learning, and communication plus producing graduates that are globally aware of changes in the current employable skills.

On the other hand, the concept of quality is difficult to earmark.

Is it only measured on the desirability and employability of graduates?

In their paper on ‘A quality graduate’ Lee Harvey and Selena Mason (Senior research fellow at CRQ Research) share that it is rather the integration of new graduates into an organisation and the speed at which they can contribute effectively that has become a critical factor.

Get in sync with changing world
“…In a rapidly changing world, there is less time for graduates to become acclimatised to a particular setting. Increasingly graduates are expected to be able to ‘hit the deck running’. Secondly… the growing number of small and medium firms have less resources for training and expect a more rapid return on their investment in graduates.”

“Third, the growth of the world market means that… graduates will need to be versatile and flexible as well as knowledgeable. Fourth, is the shift to addressing the student perspective and the need to respond by empowering students for life-long learning through enhancing a range of skills and abilities as well as knowledge,” the paper reads in part.

Mostly, the argument has been, and still is that we are not necessarily producing the kind of graduates with the practical skills to fit in the world of work. And like Prof Ouma is the director of research and knowledge translation, African Institute for Development Policy, wrote in Daily Nation recently, “This phenomenon has been further compounded by political interference, corruption, nepotism, and socio-economic mayhem occasioned by the frail national agencies charged with the responsibility of ensuring quality and standards.”

Makerere University students for instance went on strike for two weeks. And of course no teaching and learning took place during the strike.

What the employers say
Speaking during the Enhancing Quality and Internationalisation of Study Programmes through Mobile Transformative Pedagogy (EQIP) workshop at Makerere University recently, Patrick Kajura, of the Federation of Uganda Employers, wondered whether we can call it quality education when employers cannot take on the graduates produced.

“It is true that majority of the graduates employers receive come with academic skills but lack those required in the job market. That is why it is very common to find a diploma holder heading graduates in a department,” he explained.

He went on to mention that some of the skills needed by employers are not taught in class. Among these are; creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, ICT skills, decision making skills, leadership skills, communication skills, ethics, foreign languages, and self-drive, among others.

“Some graduates come with very good grades and think because of that they are not ready to learn new things. These interactions are present to help address some of these loopholes,” Kajura says.

It goes without saying that with the liberalisation of the education sector, many graduates are produced for the few job opportunities because of our job scarcity.

How do we improve quality?
Experts argue that improving the quality of graduates is a multi-dimensional approach. They say we can talk about an input-output approach that puts emphasis on admitting the best students with qualifications into Institutions of higher learning, having highly qualified staff, facilities and quality teaching.

Additionally, Emmanuel Ochiru, a lecturer from Mountains of the Moon University, shares that if more monitoring and supervision is done by universities and the higher education regulator, quality can be improved. “In addition to some lecturers dodging classes over a period of time, some hire mercenaries to teach for them who are normally not professional lecturers. This happens because there is no sufficient monitoring system,” he says.

Role of the employer
But Prof Tony Oyana, the principal College of Computing and Information Science (CoCIS) at Makerere University, also believes we all have a role to play in furthering quality of education.

Speaking at the same open day, the principal emphasised that, “Universities are not factories that will give you a finished product. We prepare students to a certain stage, and then hand them over to industries,” he said.

He went on to suggest that if industries/employers would give students a two-year internship for example so that they are retrained, they would grow their skills. “The role of universities traditionally is to provide foundational knowledge. So, if we can partner with employers that can impart certain skills, then we can boost the skillset,” he added.

Beyond the bigger institutions, charity begins at home and follows through primary and secondary school levels.

“If we are for example looking for critical thinkers, a critical thinker is created the day they are born, but we- expect magic from the university!” Oyana states.

He also points out practices that cripple quality such as dictation of notes in primary and secondary schools, which he believes does not encourage skills such as critical thinking that are needed in the workplace.

Oyana further encourages nurturing of students’ talents. “In the Bible, we have gifts. Can everyone be a problem solver? I think we need to find those talents in Uganda and start developing them. If your child is very good at something, promote them, if they are challenging you, allow it, because you may be a father but you do not know everything.”

Furthermore, Ass Prof Umar Kakumba, the deputy vice chancellor Academic Affairs at Makerere University, shared that if there is need to enhance the quality of study programmes, making them relevant to the global needs brings out the core business of institutions.

“We are in a global village, so we must keep in touch with what is happening and make our institutions relevant to the needs of the global economy,” he said adding, “When we talk about quality education, it is not just about the curriculum, compliance or the quality of the teachers, not even the employability of the graduates. It is many things and it is important that we look at this consortium that creates a quality product.”

Addressing teaching
Among the glaring challenges is the way teaching and learning occur, from the lowest levels of education upwards. One of the steps being taken to address these issues at Makerere University is by enhancing the quality and bringing them to an international standard of study programmes.

This is a five year partnership between Makerere University, University of Rwanda and Universitetet i Agder in Norway.

“The focus of the project is the promotion of transformative pedagogy. This means empowering learners to be transformed as part of the learning process, to be better products of the education process,” Dr Rehema Baguma, one of the project coordinators said.

“We shall be capitalising on technology, exchange of students across these universities with the bigger goal of increasing employability of graduates, increasing the competence of the staff of the participating units to be able to deliver curricula that is relevant to the 21st Century job market,” she explained at the open day.

At Makerere, the College of Education and External Studies and the College of Computer and Information Science are facilitating the programme with funding from the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education.

Regulators say
Godfrey Omoda-Onyait, the higher education officer quality assurance at the National Council for Higher Education, says the question is; what do we need to do to increase the quality of higher education?

“We have had challenges with compliance in both public and private institutions where highly qualified instructors assigned to teach a particular course subcontract juniors to do the teaching. How can you ensure quality in such a case?” he asks.

He also notes that running of unaccredited programmes brought about by commercialisation of education is also a big hurdle in delivering quality education.

“We may accredit a programme to only admit a maximum of 50 students per year since we give the numbers depending on the available facilities. But because of money, institutions get overly excited and admit more than double the recommended number. They usually use day, evening, weekend, or night shifts as excuses for the numbers thus compromising quality,” Omoda-Onyait says.

Additionally, he raises concern about opening of several campuses some of which are illegal.

“That is where quality is watered down! At the main campus, there may be quality learning which does not exist in the study centres. Those that exist illegally are like thieves who fail our regulatory role. How can you regulate a thief?” he notes.