Inaugural Chancellor’s Career Fair 2018

Abstract

The Chancellor of the University of Nairobi (UoN) and the entire UoN fraternity convened a two-day Inaugural Chancellor’s Career Fair on August 13 – 14, 2018 at the University’s Main campus. The career fair sought to forge and nurture strong symbiotic collaborations with the Government and Industry to guide and nurture students and graduates towards a better and more fulfilling future relevant for positively impact on the socioeconomic growth of Kenya The Career Fair included Roundtable Discussions by Industry players, Panel Discussions, Industry Showcase through Exhibitions, Recruitment Drives by companies, Keynote Presentations and Breakaway Training Sessions for students. The training of students by industry partners focused on key areas of the job market as well as on entrepreneurship. It covered topics such as Branding for Employment, Cyber Security, Talent and Image Management, Technology Trends, Skills for Tomorrow, Tech Skills Gap, Creativity and Innovations and Business Models among others. Emerging areas of potential collaboration with the Industry partners include Industrial Research, Commercialization of Intellectual Property, Infrastructure Development, Human Resource Training and Transfer, Retooling Industry employees and Adjunct lecturers and students. To realize this, UoN will host the Chancellor’s Career Fair Biannually. The Chancellor’s Career Fair marked the beginning of a transitional journey for the students at the University of Nairobi. The initiative which formed a tripartite alliance of stakeholders in Academia, Industry and the Government was preceded by the launch of the UoN career office. This came a few months after the launch of the Office Career Services Policy and guidelines by the Education Cabinet Secretary, Ambassador Amina Mohamed. The main purpose of the event was to link the students to the Job market which was the theme of the day. The participants for this meeting were largely drawn from Government, Industry Partners, Academia and Students. Overall, the UoN was proud to host the two-day Chancellor’s Career fair, and it is the hope of the UoN that all partners will build on the lessons of the first Chancellor’s Career Fair and make the next Career Fair much advanced occasion. Purpose of the Career Fair The Chancellor’s Career Fair was aimed at providing an opportunity for the University, Government and Industry Partners to establish long term mutually beneficial partnerships, exposing students to challenges of the productive work environment, securing career guidance for students in addition to understanding the 21st century job skill requirements, providing students with job leads through engagements with potential employers and mentoring students for the job market. Discussions This inaugural Chancellor’s Career Fair was a two-day event championed by the Chancellor as an initiative that brings students, graduates and employers together with the aim of connecting graduates with industry partners for jobs and internship opportunities and exposing industry to the underutilized Research and Development potential at the University. The Chancellor’s and UoN long-term vision is for every graduate that walks out of the UoN to secure entry into the world of work environment, including being successful entrepreneurs. The Chancellor’s Fair has enabled the UoN to initiate a corporate University wide approach to enrich the experience of Government, Industry and Academia. This was realized by providing avenues for focused panel discussions on current workplace demands in the form of knowledge and skills and presentation and branding aspects of a prospective job seeker or entrepreneur. The exposure is expected to enable graduates to take advantage of job opportunities available locally, harness technology for cross border mobility of labour or delve into the rough and tumble yet rewarding path to entrepreneurship and self-employment. Outcome From this two-day discussions, it emerged that there are specific challenges, in particular skills mismatch that employers are experiencing when looking for the right skilled graduates to employ. Kenya has a total of 73 universities and constituent colleges and nearly 200 public tertiary institutions that graduate students every year. Unfortunately, most of these graduates are either under-employed or unemployed, while a few who are employed often do not have the technical competencies and skills required by industry. While there are many reasons for unemployment, including poor economic growth and expansion of industry, lack of technical competencies and skills has been noted by Inter-University Council of East Africa and employers as a major challenge. Consequently, Kenya, through higher learning institutions in collaboration with industry has to address these problems for effective implementation of Vision 2030, African Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Kenya Government’s concern for youth unemployment and lack of effective linkage with industry triggered the Ministry of Education to roll out the establishment of the Office of Career Services (OCS) in all universities and tertiary institutions. The Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Education, Amb (Dr.) Amina Mohamed launched the Office of Career Services policy on 21st June 2018 at the University of Nairobi