Graduates ’ perceptions of the contribution of university education to graduate employment in Tanzania
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Date
2018
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Mzumbe University
Abstract
Graduate employability has become a thorny issue in the economies developing countries like Tanzania. Since the literature is replete with reports and stories of hardships that graduates face in finding employment and employer dissatisfaction with graduates seeking employment despite the fact of them being seen as the key to economic success. Their poor professional preparedness for the workplace has resulted in the creation of the common descriptor of ‘half-baked’ by many employers. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on graduate employability and university education in Tanzania by shedding light and increasing understanding on the contribution of university education to graduate employment through the lens of graduates ’perceptions. Primary data were collected by means of an online questionnaire from a sample size of 100 graduates from various universities in Tanzania who happened to participate in the sales boot camp organized by Mzumbe University Dar es Salaam Campus College, whereas secondary data were obtained from various literature sources such as newspaper, scholarly articles, publications and journals. A survey design and an exploratory research approach was used to collect empirical data from the graduates. The collected data were analyzed by the use of SPSS software, where both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques were employed. Major inspiration that made the graduates to choose those field of study was because of their strong link to the labor market, but they did not help them to secure jobs immediately after graduating but surprisingly only 34% out of the 100 respondents were able to be employed. However graduates were not satisfied with the content of the University curriculum as they have agreed that there was no stronger relationship between what they studied and the requirements of the labour market, as the skills did not match with the practical content that is needed in the labour market and therefore graduates called for incorporation of more practical aspects in the university curriculum that will better fit the requirements of the labour market.
Description
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Masters of Science in Marketing Management (MSC MKT) of Mzumbe University.
Keywords
Graduate employment in Tanzania, University education contribution to employment, Graduate employability, Human capital theory