| dc.description.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 | en_US |
