‘Engage higher learning institutions to address skills challenges’
THE Business community in the country has been advised to engage higher learning institutions in imparting the right workforce skills that are highly needed in the labour market.
This was said by the University of Dar es Salaam Deputy Vice Chancellor of Planning, Finance and Administration, Prof Bernadeta Killian during a CEO Roundtable of Tanzania (CEOrt) monthly discussion on ways to build rightful skills which are the solution for the availability of qualified manpower to run business in the country.
“UDSM has huge potential for impactful research to spur innovation and joint programmes with companies to improve the talent pool for employers,” she said.
Prof Killian said that apart from UDSM having a rich history of over 60 years in training workforce in various disciplines, it is undergoing a transformation that allows room for closer cooperation with the private sector to improve its curriculum to sharpen qualified grandaunts with skills needed to run modern businesses.
“I urge the business community to work closely with the learning institution, especially the UDSM which has the highest number of PhD holders in various disciplines and is therefore a good source of expertise,” she said.
Her remarks were aligned with helping budding entrepreneurs who often have to seek fresh graduates as a more affordable resourcing option.
Prof Killian reminded the CEOs that skills and capacity building are critical for economic development as they enhance the organisation’s innovation and quality standards.
“I commend UDSM for adapting to global market forces and changing their framework accordingly, but Tanzania has to take methods of addressing skills gap at more foundational levels before young people enter universities,” said Mr
Alimiya Munge – CEO of Faru Graphite Corporation Limited and a member of CEOrt.
He added that since skills gap may also apply amongst entrepreneurs, CEOrt members must value initiatives of grooming both technical and business skills needed in running the day to day operations which are crucial for implementing growth strategies.
On his part, Mr Tournabenne Mnyuku a CEOrt member stressed the need to have more practical and modern approaches to skilling new job entrants, to enable employers to benefit from having a capable workforce.
He challenged business leaders to be more solutions thinking when it comes to addressing known problems like skill mismatch and when seeking solutions to getting competitive human resources.
