₦airaland Forum

By John Ross, Times Higher Education

Excessive reverence for universities is holding developing countries back, as their governments fight losing battles to shepherd young people into vocational education, a conference has heard.

South African higher education and training minister Naledi Pandor said that a preference for academically focused education is keeping young people out of employment. “Parents and communities believe their children should go to university and get degrees,” she told the Yidan Prize summit in Hong Kong.



“We’re trying to shift that interest toward technical and vocational because that’s where the jobs are. That’s where opportunities lie.”

Ms Pandor said that the bias against vocational education is particularly pronounced in her country, because black South Africans had been barred from technical colleges during the apartheid era.

“Now, with freedom, the gates are open. But we have a real shortage of technical and vocational students, because the majority were excluded from that stream,” she said. “We are shifting the attention of young people towards the sector.”

Former Colombian education minister Yaneth Giha said that the situation in her country is similar. “There is big prestige around professions and universities. People don’t want to go to technical institutions,” she said.

“We have been developing several programmes to start calling the attention of young people and industry to work together. We need to change the mindset.”

Search our database of more than 7,000 global university jobs

Ms Giha held two ministerial posts in the government of Juan Manuel Santos before he lost office in August. She said that Mr Santos, as president, had decided seven years ago to construct Colombia’s development around education, as the country began to emerge from its long civil war.

Education has replaced defence as the biggest area of budget spending, she said. But Colombia needs to learn from countries such as Germany, where only around 30 per cent of people opt for academic education.

“In Colombia it’s exactly the opposite. Seventy per cent of our young men and women want to go to universities for professional careers,” she said. “There’s a big challenge there. We need to change the culture.”

Hong Kong property developer and philanthropist Ronnie Chan said that nations where vocational education has remained a popular choice for young people, such as Germany and Switzerland, boast the strongest economies in Europe.

“In East Asia, face is more important. ‘If I don’t get into a proper university, my whole family is shamed’ – that kind of thing has to be addressed. It’s the fault of the Chinese mothers,” he said.

Mr Chan said that China produces about 7 million graduates with bachelor’s degrees every year. “Many of them never find a job, and yet people are saying that there’s a tremendous shortage of talent and human resources in China.

“How come these university graduates are not finding jobs? Nobody wants to go for vocational education and training, but that’s really where the need is in China today.”

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/higher-education-obsession-holds-back-developing-countries

Lalasticlala TheVictorious

Important point. Developing countries should focus on primary and sec education.

HigherEd:
Important point. Developing countries should focus on primary and sec education.

I think it should be vocational studies / technical training here.
People need to learn proper tailoring for example and learn how to us semis computerized sewing machines to aid their productivity. If we go by the import volume of clothes into Nigeria you will realize we need that.
Another example is cocoa. Between Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria we produce more half of all the world's raw cocoa and are therefore in a strong position to control more than half the chocolate candy industry worldwide worth well over $100 Billion but what we have is an army of academic theory quoting graduates who aren't interested in the chocolate arts and making.

We should be building stronger technical training centers that will fill these voids instead of making ASUU feel like gods.

Oil and other mineral too follow same pattern of exporting our raw materials to import finished products.

CodeTemplar:
I think it should be vocational studies / technical training here.
People need to learn proper tailoring for example and learn how to us semis computerized sewing machines to aid their productivity. If we go by the import volume of clothes into Nigeria you will realize we need that.
Another example is cocoa. Between Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria we produce more half of all the world's raw cocoa and are therefore in a strong position to control more than half the chocolate candy industry worldwide worth well over $100 Billion but what we have is an army of academic theory quoting graduates who aren't interested in the chocolate arts and making.

We should be building stronger technical training centers that will fill these voids instead of making ASUU feel like gods.

Oil and other mineral too follow same pattern of exporting our raw materials to import finished products.

exactly, universities may not be the best place for everyone to go.

Primary and Secondary education is the key. Then students can venture into a Professional Vocation.

I have a friend who completed his Secondary Education in 2oo3 & immediately went to learn mobile phone repairs as far back as 2oo3.
We felt so much pity for him then because we thought he will become miserable in the future.
Some of us who were his classmates only managed to secure admission in 2oo8 to study any course 'suffa we graduate'.

Fast forward to January 4, 2o19, this young man has trained over 50 University Graduates in phone repairs, he is married with 2 kids already in primary school and in his early 30s, he is his own boss, and he is planning to go for his Masters' this year.
Moral: I lost nothing by acquiring a 'handwork' most parents look than on. Infact, some of us who have Masters' Degree still scramble for NPower & teaching jobs.

I wonder why this post has not hit front page yet for people to learn a thing or two.

Cc: mynd44 lalasticlala seun c'mon!

DrMeroThaEmperor:
Primary and Secondary education is the key. Then students can venture into a Professional Vocation.

I have a friend who completed his Secondary Education in 2oo3 & immediately went to learn mobile phone repairs as far back as 2oo3.
We felt so much pity for him then because we thought he will become miserable in the future.
Some of us who were his classmates only managed to secure admission in 2oo8 to study any course 'suffa we graduate'.

Fast forward to January 4, 2o19, this young man has trained over 50 University Graduates in phone repairs, he is married with 2 kids already in primary school and in his early 30s, he is his own boss, and he is planning to go for his Masters' this year.
Moral: I lost nothing by acquiring a 'handwork' most parents look than on. Infact, some of us who have Masters' Degree still scramble for NPower & teaching jobs.

I wonder why this post has not hit front page yet for people to learn a thing or two.

Cc: mynd44 lalasticlala seun c'mon!

That's deep oh. . . You see hausa boys selling tiger nut and dates in wheelbarrow making more money than most graduates. Even bricklayers and manual labourers aren't left out. Most people don't realize the training they got in school was academic focused for a purpose and never bother to go for the practical training.
We hustle for university admission out of peer pressure and now start blaming the system due to false sense expectation from peers again. people should know the role of polytechnic and technical schools.