Higher Education and Prospects of Graduates’ Employability in Tanzania

This paper is about the challenges of employment for graduates of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Tanzania which has been a serious issue of concern for both the students, parents, universities, the government, and the public.  With the rapid expansion of higher education in Tanzania, there is a widely shared concern that graduates face substantial difficulties in the job search and are often forced to accept unfavourable early employment. This article focuses on the relationship between higher education and the employability of graduates. It draws on statistics and a critical review of the literature. Employability of graduate students has been understood as a collection of capacities or achievements, which constitute a necessary but not sufficient condition for getting employed. Using Tanzania as a case study, the paper, therefore, analyses the extent to which the HEIs in the country do foster competencies relevant for employment and work, and the extent of readiness of these institutions in fostering more “employable” competencies of their graduates. Keywords: higher education; employability; university governance, university of the future; labour market DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-9-19 Publication date: March 31 st 2020

prominence in the 1950s and 1960s during the era of at the peak of the movement for political independence. There were many critical issues that HE had to wrestle with as it was trying to maintain momentum and a respectable presence in sub-Saharan Africa. These issues revolved included the relevance of universities' curricula, high unit costs and the ivory tower mentality exhibited by some HE graduates (Mkude, 2011).
Higher education in Tanzania is managed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Education (MoEST). The Higher Education Division under the MoEST oversees the quality and effective development of higher education subsector policy and resource mobilisation for enhanced access, quality, and equity in higher education by performing the following:  To promote high quality and internationally competitive teaching and learning, research, and innovation;  To provide inputs in developing, monitoring, evaluating, and reviewing the implementation of Higher Education policies;  To initiate, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the ministry's Higher Education development plan, programmes and projects;  To catalyze the development of world-class higher education including advising on the alignment of higher education to the developmental needs of the society;  To liaise with the Tanzania Commission for Universities as well as the National Council for Technical Education and other professional bodies and thereby facilitate the development of quality and relevant higher education-related skills-sets in the country;  To liaise with the Inter-University Council for East Africa and other regional bodies and thereby promote and sustain Regional Integration and International Cooperation on Higher Education;  To promote public awareness on the functions and roles of Higher Education subsector;  To prepare and submit periodic reports as required from time to time; and  To initiate and carry out a skill audit to facilitate training plans 1 These functions give considerable statutory powers to the Higher Education Division in Tanzania to run university education. However, looking critically at these functions, several questions pop up: From where to where? What does it want to achieve? Are these transformations leading to more employability of graduates or just employment? Who is really in charge of these reforms -is the Ministry, HEIs, the students, donors, private sector, or who else? Who defines the scope and content of education transformation? These are some of the critical questions that will be guiding the rest of this paper.

Analysis of the Supply and demand in the labour market for tertiary education graduates 4.1 Trends in students' admission in tertiary education by major categories of disciplines in Tanzania
Tanzania is one of several developing countries which have carried out massive investment in the education sector with a view of expanding enrolment at all levels of the education system. Enrolment in higher education is increasing as more universities, and other tertiary training institutions are established or expanded. For example, admission in tertiary education reached 40,479 in 2009/2010 and increased to 44,715 in 2012/13, an increase of 10.5% in just three years (Mushi, 2013). As at 30 th , June 2018, the admission had increased to 69,539 in 2016/2017 but slightly decreased to 63,737 in 2017/2018(The Controller and Auditor General, 2019 (2019) This sheer number of higher learning institutions in Tanzania implies that the supply side is significant in terms of graduates which may leave the demand side unable to accommodate the pressure. However, while the data in Table 1 shows that there has been an expansion in education in general and university education, this is perhaps seen in many quarters of government as a symbol of development. It should be noted, however, that the numbers of student enrolment and institutions are very much cherished by politicians who use the figures as an indicator for significant progress a country has made since a particular government is in power (Sifuna, 1998). Nonetheless, there is hardly mention of the quality of education offered at such institutions and the number of graduates who are employed.

The Supply Side Question: An Overview of Employability of University Students
Employability for university graduates has become a subject for discussion for several years. However, there has been a growing interest in it over the last decade. This has been attributed to the fact that in the current competitive www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.11, No.9, 2020 environment, it makes sense to get on the first step of the career ladder, despite the challenges involved. In this regard, graduates need to demonstrate over and above their degree, attainment the importance of the skills and attributes that they need possess (Kalufya & Mwakajinga, 2016). In the same vein, the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 identifies science and technology as pillars of innovation and competitiveness. However, the paper argues that skills mismatch with the vision may prevent the country from attaining a competitive knowledge economy. It recommends that incentives offered to science students at tertiary education should be extended to secondary education, where students make critical career decisions (Mpehongwa, 2014). While this problem had been seen serious for secondary leavers, it has moved up to affect the graduates as well.
The supply of labour force by the higher institutions is not questionable, and it has been increasing year after year. For example, institutions with a certificate of the provisional license which were registered and allowed to run academic and research activities as at 30 th June 2018 were 48 (See Table 2 (2019) While it may be easy to get the number of registered higher institutions and the number of graduates from these institutions, the exact number of those who employed after their studies is somewhat tricky. One of the few attempts to address this problem is the study commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in 2013. This study reported that the estimated total number of graduates of tertiary education joining the labour market every year for the period of 2010/2011 was 28,032 (Mushi, 2013). However, this analysis was only worked out as an average of the two years for which data were available. The study noted that this number is not static because the tertiary education sub-sector is expanding every year as indicated.
Further analysis of the composition of the supply side by the major categories of disciplines showed that the leading category in terms of supply in the labour market was Education; followed by Law & Social Sciences, and Business Management & Administration. Categories with a relatively small supply of graduates were Natural Sciences, Agriculture, Engineering Sciences and Medical Sciences. This study also cautioned that the supply side was slightly overestimated by not being able to exclude graduates who were already employed at the time of admission or got employed during their training. However, this was a marginal proportion of the total number of graduates of tertiary education in Tanzania. Notwithstanding, the study acknowledged its inability to get hold of precise information for dealing with returning graduates from foreign institutions and those getting employed before enrolling for, or completing tertiary education.
Employment is an integral part of the economic, social, and environmental development process and procedure of any country. Employment provides financial freedom and decision-making power in society. A country needs to absorb most of the existing labour force to boost the economy. On the other hand, the unemployed workforce is a wastage of the current opportunities the economy holds. High levels of employment in any country is crucial as it helps to keep citizens away from the involvement of unlawful activities((NBS) National Bureau of Statistics, 2018).
Efforts to improve technical and vocational education need to reflect the demands of the labour market. Analysis of unemployed youths in respect of the level of education aims at showing how employable youths are, given their education. It also helps policymakers and skills providers to review their curricula and allocate relevant resources for labour market demand-driven skills (National Bureau of Statistics, 2014). Ironically, education providers typically are not held accountable for employment outcomes. This being the case, it is no wonder that they do not have a clear view of the challenges of finding a job their graduates face. Generally, most of the higher education providers surveyed by the Inter-University Council for East Africa could not estimate the percentage of their graduates were employed after graduation, and many of those who did offer a guess got it wrong. For example, three-quarters of the providers believed that most of their graduates (74%) found work in three months or less, while those who were somehow optimistic said that about 54% found employment after graduation. The survey findings further indicate that persons graduating at any one time were employed by the end of three years of graduation (Table 3) Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.11, No.9, 2020 Group  (2014) The data in Table 3 may be somewhat outdated, but the problem of getting more updated data is compounded by the lack of a single entity dealing with monitoring of labour information in Tanzania. For example, while the Tanzania Employment Service Agency (TAESA) was established to, among other things, monitor and record trends in jobseekers in the labour market for graduates, its performance is somewhat unsatisfactory. TAESA was meant to be a service centre for which job seekers register themselves for opportunities in the labour market. However, various studies have shown that not all job seekers register (Mushi, 2013). On average, the total number of graduates from tertiary education who registered with TAESA for the period of 2011/2012 was 759 every year for the following five years which was only about 3% of the total number of the graduates. According to Mushi (2013), of all the job seekers registered by TAESA for the last five years before 2011, the majority came from the Business Management & Human Resource and Administration category (55%); followed by Law and Social Sciences, Humanities & Art. The categories with relatively the least proportion were Extractive Industry and Health Sciences. The study concluded that although about 45% of graduates of tertiary education came from Education, they find it easy to get a job compared to graduates in other disciplines (Mushi, 2013).
Recent findings from the NBS National Bureau of Statistics (2018) also shows that males with tertiary education had a more substantial number of newly recruited employees amounting to 8,279 (23.7 per cent) compared to females workers with 4,559 which is equivalent to 13.2 per cent. The findings further show that there is a significant difference in the numbers of newly recruited employees among males and females having Teacher's education or College whereby males are having a more significant number (6,443 employees) compared to females (4,442 employees).  (2018) Borrowing from other countries, Tanzania could rethink on the need to establish a government agency which will be dealing enhancing student employability similar to the case of the Higher Education Funding Council for England which sponsors national work for raising awareness on what higher education should be doing to help the graduates since employability is becoming a global issue (P. Knight & Yorke, 2004)

The Demand Side Question: Unemployment Rate Challenges
The unemployment rate is the best-known labour market measure. It is also one of the most used by media in many countries. The unemployment rate is a useful measure of the underutilization of the labour supply. Similarly, the analysis of unemployment helps the policymakers allocate relevant resources for labour market demand-driven skills and for the higher learning institutions to review their curricular. Thus, efforts to improve technical and vocational education need to reflect the demands of the labour market (National Bureau of Statistics, 2014). Recent results from the projections by the National Bureau of Statistics reveals that the unemployment rate in Tanzania has been decreasing from 10.3 per cent recorded in 2014 to 9.7 per cent in 2018. This results may imply that the economy has been doing well in absorbing the ever-increasing labour force in the country ( (2018) While the rate of unemployment has been slightly decreasing from 2014, the problem of unemployment and underemployment in Tanzania is still a critical issue, especially for new graduates. This is well documented by National Employment Policy (2008) which notes that unemployment has become serious in the country and should be regarded as a major national development challenge with ramifications for economic welfare, social stability and human dignity (United Republic of Tanzania, 2008). This problem is also echoed by the study by Mwita (2018) which used a sample of 100 human resource practitioners to assess their perception of Tanzania graduate employability. The study found that HR practitioners consider Tanzania graduate as average. The same survey found that 52.6% of Human Resource practitioners disagree that Tanzania graduate quality is improving; while 56.6 % believe that Tanzania graduate is not competent enough to compete for jobs in the East African labour market. Nonetheless, other studies have shown that the higher youth unemployment rate in the country does not necessarily mean that there is the absence of jobs but rather the inability of youth to acquire the available jobs (Ndyali, 2016).

Challenges and Factors Facing Institutions of Higher Education in Tanzania
Complaints from the industry have been raised on the skills gap, for example, in relation to curricula design that is production-led, based on staff experience, interests and availability, rather than necessarily preparing graduates for the industry-employment market (Mbise, 2016). This problem has been linked to the fact that most of the undergraduate and graduate programmes at the universities are too theoretical and do not expose the students to practical experiences. For example, the design of curriculum and syllabi for most of the universities in Tanzania is reflective of the established examination system where a student is asked to do a question paper at the end of a semester (Anderson, 2017;Kalufya & Mwakajinga, 2016;Ndyali, 2016). This antiquated examination system does not truly test the right skills of the student in the pursuit of theoretical or practical knowledge in real-world situations. Thus, a significant number of Tanzania education stakeholders have argued that the education offered is not adequately geared to integrate the individual into the strong competitive labour market (Mwita, 2018).
Inadequate financial and qualified human resource is the greatest challenge facing almost all universities in Tanzania. Most of the academic staff and non-academic staff are of lower profile holding a certificate, diploma, advanced diploma, bachelor, and a master degree. This is also worse for the private universities which have inadequate human resources, physical resources, fiscal resources, and learning facilities. As a result, these inefficiencies in both financial and human resources appear to have diminished quality; as a result, graduates are unable to deliver at workplaces, and thus unemployment rates continue to increase at unprecedented scale (Makulilo, 2012) Leadership and governance for higher education institutions is another challenge. University governance is one of the key elements for improving the quality of the graduates. Some of the notable characteristics of successful world-class universities are: leadership, government policy, funding, the ability to focus continually on a clear set of goals and institutional policies, development of a strong academic culture and quality of the academic staff (Jaramillo & Hafedh Zaafrane, 2014, p. 9).
Similarly, as the universities embark on producing leaders for the 21st Century, three essential attributes (space, vision and empowerment) must also be taken into account: a) an understanding that students bring talent and creativity to the field of efficiency especially if they are provided with a venue to be inspired and educated; b) the ability to work out a coherent and clear vision; and c) the ability to articulate this vision and to empower every other person to actualize it (Inter-University Council for East Africa, 2014). Other challenges include the Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.11, No.9, 2020 governance Structure in the Universities. The dominant ideals of the organization and governance of universities have changed over the last few decades. This means that the Universities of the Future is expected to be informed by two broad sets of ideas about university governance. The first is a republic of scholars and second regards the university as a stakeholder organization (Bleikliea & Kogan, 2007). The problem of governance is, therefore, the location of authority to resolve these issues: internal and external. This is where some considerations about power relations between the central administration and the lower levels of governance. Structural reorganizations occurred frequently. Each structural change has implications on the way the central authority of the universities devolves, delegate or deconcentrate powers to the lower units.
According to Bradshaw and Fredette (2009), governance of universities is conceived of as the reframing, challenging, and questioning of the leadership vision and interpretation of reality. Senates which are responsible for making strategic decisions about the universities are seen other governing bodies which can be working at three levels simultaneously: making strategic decisions (approval/rubber-stamping role), shaping these decisions (through consultation or testing ideas, raising questions, challenging assumptions, giving advice, and encouraging learning), and developing the context and conductor strategy (constructing arenas in which strategy is debated). Nonetheless, there is no one single model or "one size fits all" approach to university governance. What is important is to acknowledge a particular model being used and to assess if it is the best model for a particular institution, given its political, social and economic contexts (Jaramillo & Hafedh Zaafrane, 2014).
Universities governance can, therefore, be identified with other different governance modes: quasi-market, network steering, interactive governance, multi-level and multi-actor governance (Flórez-Parra, López-Pérez, & López-Hernández, 2017). The key point about the dispersion of these powers from the university's central administration to the lower levels of governance relates to how they are driven by the new directions which call for networks of research and learning; internationalization; information and communication technologies; competitiveness and their attempt to create market niches; and commercialization.

What is Next? -The University of the Future: Transforming University Governance and teaching and learning methods
The challenges discussed above call for rethinking about the future of HE and governance of in general. As Cross and Ndofirepi (2017, p. 3) argue, there are still no good African universities which serve the needs and equip graduates with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for transforming their societies. According to Ernst & Young LLP and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (2018), universities need to be prepared for both unprecedented challenges, including available ample opportunities for innovation. As universities move towards 'knowledge economy', the developing countries are likely to benefit more in development. In this case, in the coming years, universities will have to transform their traditional status working alone as academic institutions when higher education becomes more integrated into the economy. This is also to argue that as globalization and technological advances maintain momentum, HE policy change to encourage universities to become more global and satellite-based.
To advance the movement towards University of the future, Ernst & Young LLP and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (2018) uses the analogy of Education 3.0. and 4.0. Education 3.0. is the traditional or current status of the universities' governance and operations, while Education 4.0. is the envisioned university of the future. They call upon the universities to move from Education 3.0 to Education 4.0 in terms of improving the ways of teaching students and attaining learning objectives using the power of ICT facilities. According to EY and FICCI (2018) Vol.11, No.9, 2020 184 Education 3.0. has been criticized for its failure to place the student at the center and focusing on experiential learning. For example, the traditional HE system has been criticized for the following:  Plateauing enrolment due to limitations on infrastructure and faculty  Rigid learning structure often forcing students to study programs outside their field of interest  Inflexible delivery method and schedules with no room to accommodate students with other commitments  The rising cost of quality, HE increasing the pressure of student debt on learners (Ernst & Young LLP & Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, 2018) The authors, therefore, recommend for HEIs to move to Education 4.0 which has the potential to overcome the constraints of the traditional education system by targeting the new-age learner cohort. This revolution calls for customizable and flexible program structures delivered across technology-enabled and affordable platforms and real-time integration with the industry. It is therefore imperative for HEIs to redefine the education system by enriching the student learning experience, focusing on employability and providing opportunities for research excellence A significant number of East African countries have introduced far-reaching reforms aimed at improving higher education provision by increasing emphasis on expanded access opportunities while protecting the learners from falling prey to substandard or bogus education providers (Kalufya & Mwakajinga, 2016;Msigwa, 2016;Ndyali, 2016;Ngirwa et al., 2014;Vavrus, 2005). However, despite these dynamics, the reforms appear not to be radical enough to synchronize the missions of higher education institutions with government priorities as well as meeting the expectations of employers and the society at large (Inter-University Council for East Africa, 2014). The council notes further that while the EAC Partner States aspire to transform into knowledge-based economies in the coming 10-20 years, the pillars for such transformation, namely human resource capacity and a vibrant research and innovation system, continue to remain shaky, and therefore posing formidable challenges to overcome the situation.
Other studies have emphasized the need to strengthen Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) by redefining the role of the state in providing social services by also providing adequate space for the private sector's role in the provision of education. Mgaiwa and Poncian (2016), for example, argue that the state should focus more on the strategic control, funding, and planning of the education system. Similarly, employers expect graduates to have the technical and discipline competencies from their degrees with the ability of the graduates to demonstrate a range of broader skills and attributes that include teamworking, communication, leadership, critical thinking, problem-solving and often managerial abilities (Kalufya & Mwakajinga, 2016).
On the other hand, the higher universities need to transform themselves to accommodate these new dynamics of the labour markets. They need, for example; reconsider the way they teach and interact with their students. One far-fetched idea worth considering proposed by J. Knight (2015) is the notion of "edu-glomerates". The idea builds on the recent phenomenon of education hubs, academic cities, or higher education zone. All these bring together a diversity of international and local education providers, including the three generations of international universities and private, professional training establishments.
Moreover, it has been established by some studies that that young people consider online or distance learning to be as effective as traditional modes for enhancing their professional skills. For example, about 62% of the young people who were asked to indicate the most effective instructional techniques said on the job training is the most effective with about 30% saying the traditional lecture is the most effective (Inter-University Council for East Africa, 2014) (  Vol.11, No.9, 2020 185 demand. This requires a different outlook in terms of balancing the existing mismatch of the existing teaching modalities and the learning needs of different types of students. In other words, the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are compelled to offer innovative models of learning, leading to the competency-based learning models. Competency-based learning enables students to progress at an individual pace by allowing them to have their own time to attain proficiency in the relevant required skills. As such this model of teaching allows instructors to have more autonomy to cater for students' diverse needs across the various levels of learning (Ernst & Young LLP & Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, 2018).
The pressure for HE and universities' governance to transform is also linked to the increasing rate population growth. It is estimated that by the middle of this century, East African region will have a population of about 300 million people which is twice the current population number (Inter-University Council for East Africa, 2014). This projection will include a population with a workforce of more than 109.3 million people. This implies that for the markets to accommodate this skilled workforce, it would be necessary for governments to increase the number of jobs in the next 35 years and expand the private sector. The recent survey by the Inter-University Council of East Africa shows some alarming trends of three quarters of young people under 25 being unemployed (Inter-University Council for East Africa, 2014). The survey further notes that despite having many people looking for work at the moment, more often than not, employers in the EAC Partner States find it difficult to locate people having the needed skills. This trend is also exacerbated by the growing patterns of population trends as there is already an increased movement of young people away from farms and rural areas to urban areas, implying that about 75% of the population will be urban residents (Agwanda & Amani, 2014).

Conclusion
This paper has addressed the question of higher education transformation and employability for the graduates. The discussed has noted that there is much confusion about the two concepts when it comes to implementation. Graduates now cannot find a direct link between what they studied and the requirements of the labour market. This has been attributed to a sheer number of graduates per year and the capacity of the labour market to absorb them. Some other factors which have been linked to this problem have been of the nature of the higher institutions in which they study where curricular miss out the practical aspects that are needed in the labour market. This mismatch is becoming serious concern for the government, higher institutions, parents, students, and the public. The system theory perspective has provided the link for the reinforcing the feedback loop between the type of students' universities produce and the demands from the labour market which requires the universities to transform themselves in the way they teach, enhancing the quality of their products and establishing some mechanisms for helping students to secure jobs.
However, this paper does claim to have proposed a clear-cut standardized transformed model of higher education or universities' transformation, nor should there be. A standardized approach to transformation would neglect the critical importance of the cultural, social, economic, political, and academic context of where the universities are formed. Nonetheless, one should note that higher education varies from other levels of educational attainment because it is at least geared to direct professional preparation. For example, research and teaching in higher education inspire academics to pursue knowledge for its own sake. On the other hand, students are not trained for specific job assignments because they should be able to reflect, criticise and revamp established professional practice.

Lessons and Recommendations
There is no doubt that higher education and universities need to change to address the discussed problem of unemployability of the graduates. However, information on the number of students graduating from tertiary education in Tanzania is not readily available from a single source. Neither the information on the number of graduates who are employed after their graduation. The data are so much fragmented even within the respective training institutions. Accordingly, there is a need to establish an effective Tertiary Education Labour Market Observatory (TELMO) system. The observatory system will be used as a centre or unit for collecting and documenting information on labour market outcomes, conducting comprehensive graduate tracer studies and sharing information on labour market with education stakeholders-i.e. students, parents, MoEST, and tertiary education institutions; Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development, Ministry of Finance and Development Partners. Tanzania could also borrow some experiences with regard to Labour Monitoring Information (LMI) for Graduates from other countries such as Nigeria is a good example, where a labour market observatory has been established to address the current challenge in which the graduates (future employees) invest their time and other resources in skills that do not provide them with any optimal advantage on the labour market. Hence, the main concern from the employers had been on the part of additional costs that they have to incur in training fresh graduates so that they can meet with skills levels required to perform specific tasks. This challenge also resulted in increased utilization of expatriate labour and promotion of capital fights. Thus, the National Manpower Board (NMB) was established to collect, process, analyse and deploy LMI for the development of