Soft skills as a problem and a purpose for Tanzanian industry: Views of graduates
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Economic Insights – Trends and Challenges
Abstract
Recently, the aim of enhancing graduate employability for industries has been constantly on the Tanzanian policy agenda and has been defined as one of the priorities of higher education. Yet much evidence suggests the skills mismatch and hiring talent is of great concern to employers around the globe. When it comes to ‘hard’ data concerning ‘soft’ skills in the Tanzanian context, there is a dearth of empirically verifiable statistics from an academic standpoint. The study takes up this challenge to study what soft skills mean to the end-users – 391 postgraduate students who are completing their studies at a Tanzanian public university and are working and/or preparing to enter the labour market. Findings indicate that equipping graduates with the soft skills required in a particular job or industry for today and those of tomorrow is a global challenge, in Tanzania, it is even more worrisome. Based on the study findings, the study offers new insights into the importance of soft skills at the workplace as well as providing a foundation for universities to support the ‘job-readiness’ and ‘employability’ of graduates to meet industrial needs.
Description
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Keywords
Soft skills, Tanzanian National Five Year Development Plan 2016/17-2020/21, graduate employability, Tanzania Development Vision 2025, The social capital theory
Citation
APA