College students urged to focus on self-employment

Vice President Mohammed Gharib Bilali

 In an effort to address unemployment in the country, university and college students have been urged to pursue courses that will allow them to self employ.

 

The advice was given by the University of Iringa (UoI) public relations officer, Agnes Kitundu, during an interview with The Guardian over the weekend at the 10th Exhibition on Higher Education, Science and Technology in Dar es Salaam. 

 

She said it is vital for students to select courses that will not only provide them employment but also empower them to be self-employed. 

 

According to her, most of the students choose courses which do not give them the opportunity to employ themselves and as a result, they have to wait for the government or other institutions to employ them and this worsens the problem of unemployment among the youth, she said.

 

 “We have decided to introduce a new course of Bachelor of Applied Marketing and Entrepreneurship (BAME) at University of Iringa. This will provide students with self employment techniques,” she noted.

 

She explained that through the BAME course established last year, students would learn how to operate a company, thus providing them with the knowledge of how to establish firms after graduation.

 

“Since there are a few employment opportunities in our country, it is high time that students carefully chose courses to pursue, rejecting those which will not allow them to employ themselves, she said.

 

She applauded the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) for coordinating the 10th Exhibition on Higher Education, Science and Technology. 

 

She said it will enable universities and education stakeholders to learn and share new experiences following the growing science and technology.

 

 Opening the exhibition, Vice President Mohammed Gharib Bilali urged universities to discard the traditional ivory tower mindset and embrace the new thinking of third generation universities. This is directly linked to demands of both the society and labour market, he said.

 

He advised universities churning out knowledge for their own sake; rather they should strive to impart relevant skills to graduates to enable them cope with the labour market and solve problems in the society.

 

“I am inclined to believe at this is the direction our country should always take in order to survive the challenges of the 21st century, including the development of science and technology,” he said.

 

He said that, through the exhibition, higher education, research and development institutions should take a lead in this undertaking. In that way they would generate useful knowledge and skills for the society, he said and appealed:

 

“I urge all participating institutions to use these exhibitions as an opportunity for establishing and fostering linkages and collaboration in various areas, including staff and student exchange research and innovations.” 

The TCU executive secretary, Yunus Mgaya, said a total of 78 universities participate in exhibition , of which 65 are national and 13 international.