Can Africa's Higher Education System Tackle the Growing Youth Unemployment Challenge?
Wednesday, 2024/09/25, 18:15
| Event organizer: | Collegium generale |
|---|---|
| Speaker: | Prof. Dr. Ernest Aryeetey, Emeritus, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana, Ghana |
| Date: | 2024/09/25 |
| Time: | 18:15 - 19:45 |
| Locality: |
Auditorium maximum, room 110 Main Building Hochschulstrasse 4 3012 Bern |
| Registration: | Sign up for news and updates |
| Characteristics: |
open to the public free of charge |
Abstract
Africa’s youth unemployment challenge is a major issue that requires urgent action. With an average of a little above 30%, this is one of the highest in the world with countries like South Africa (49%), Botswana (45%) and Eswatini (65%) having much higher shares. The rate is much higher for young women than for young men. The main causes include the lack of decent (low-quality) jobs, skills mismatch and barriers to entering the labour market. The youthful nature of the African population further exacerbates this challenge. Over 60% of the African population is over 25 years and the projections from UNESCO are that around 100 million young people will join the workforce by 2030, translating to over 10 million new job seekers each year. It has thus become urgent for policymakers to tackle this growing youth unemployment challenge, and this requires a correspondingly urgent response not just from the labour market but also from the higher education system that is expected to train a pool of adequately trained persons. Unfortunately, neither can tackle the problem comprehensively. In the labour market, most youth are employed in subsistence agriculture, which is mainly characterised by low productivity and low wages. Jobs in the services sector continue to remain informal. The formal sector does not appear to be an alternative, as UNESCO data shows it employs less than 20% of the youth.
Africa’s higher education system is constrained by the reliance on a traditional curriculum that sometimes appears disconnected from the real economy and society and cannot adequately reflect the needs of a changing world of work. Profound systemic changes are therefore needed to effectively tackle this growing youth unemployment challenge. For the higher education system, the co-creation of knowledge with the society (private sector) that meets the needs of the market and the future of work, strengthening of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and the pursuit of interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary collaborative programmes appears to be a significant part of the way forward. Entrepreneurship education, the promotion of programs that encourage self-employment (e.g., incubators/hubs) and the pursuit of programmes that improve the transition from education to productive employment (decent work) cannot be ignored. Finally, emphasis should be on improving the quality of education.