Public University Students’ Perspective of a Youth Employability Curriculum

Abstract

Zambia is facing high unemployment rates, particularly among the youth. Universities have been accused of offering curricula that promotes the student attitude of graduating for white-collar jobs only. This can be seen through the many youths that fight for the few vacancies each time government advertises jobs leaving many of them disoriented as they discover that the formal job market is flooded. From time to time, Universities undertake curriculum review in a quest to respond to youth unemployment. Unfortunately, these efforts do not always yield the desired results as unemployment among the youth keeps increasing. There is a need for Zambia to develop a curriculum that is formulated for employability with or without the formal sector playing a major role. Through purposive sampling, the study engaged 40 3^rd year, 4th year and former students from two Zambian public universities through interviews and questionnaires to express their views regarding coming up with a meaningful curriculum to enhance youth employability. As its objectives, the study intended to: (1) Establish the practical skills and knowledge that are on high demand in today’s job market. (2) Create an opportunity for senior students to identify and pursue job opportunities. To address this problem, the study applied the exploratory and descriptive research designs with qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyse data and perceptions of a youth employability curriculum. Findings revealed that students preferred a curriculum that focused on developing practical skills, critical thinking, communication, and teamwork abilities. The data was analyzed thematically according to the objectives.