A RECORD 2 908 graduates were capped at the National University of Lesotho yesterday. We want to extend our warm congratulations to these successful students.
We wish them the best for the future. The reality that we cannot escape though is that they are joining what is already a long queue of desperate job-seekers in Lesotho.
With Lesotho’s unemployment rate hovering around 45 percent the addition of these nearly 3 000 job-seekers is a frightening prospect. Unless something is done quickly to change tack these graduates face a bleak future. This is the sad reality. We are aware that the civil service, which used to absorb most of these graduates in the past, is already bloated.
The private sector is not in a better situation either. It has proved too frail to accommodate the thousands of graduates that are being churned out every year.
With thousands of graduates on the market chasing the few jobs on offer, the result is a dangerous powder-keg waiting to explode.
The government must find ways of defusing this dangerous situation or face a revolt by hungry, angry youths in future. The lack of jobs has also spawned the huge skills flight we have witnessed over the years. Desperate graduates will essentially vote with their feet in search of better opportunities elsewhere when they hit a dead end.
After four to five years of investment educating these youths, it is Lesotho that will be the biggest loser.
We must find creative ways of holding on to our graduates so that they stay in Lesotho and help develop the country. Studies have shown that once university graduates leave their country for greener pastures it is almost impossible to woo them back, no matter what incentives are put in place to get them home.
Lesotho must therefore do everything within its power to hold on to its graduates.
Most of the graduates who walked past the NUL gate for the final time yesterday are mere job-seekers. Most of them have never seen a business plan, let alone know how to run a successful enterprise. This is the calibre of graduates we are producing.
We strongly believe the current status should not be allowed to continue.
The university must move away from churning out job-seekers and move towards creating innovative graduates who can create their own jobs. But for NUL to be able to do so, it must adopt change in line with modern training trends. Therein lies the challenge. Will the university allow itself to go through change or will it allow demagogues to stand in the way of reform?
It is urgent that the university revamps its curriculum. The university must engage industry and understand its needs. This will obviously require that the university cultivates strong links with the corporate world. Only when there is that symbiosis will the university be relevant to Basotho.
The current model has proven to be antiquated and is no longer relevant to Lesotho’s immediate needs. It is therefore critical that NUL embarks on these reforms if it is to produce students geared to play an important role in the 21st century.
The university must reform or sink into irrelevance.