TETFund Commences National Employability Programme in Nigerian Universities
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has commenced the conduct of a National Employability Benchmarking Programme in Nigerian universities in order to close the 33 per cent unemployment rate as revealed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, said the move was part of efforts to improve employability in the country and help steer higher education institutions towards better alignment with market needs.
The programme is in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other local partners.
Echono stated that the IFC is utilising its vitae employability tool to provide a diagnostic macro snapshot of how well tertiary institutions in Nigeria are implementing employability best practices.
According to him, they will also measure how tertiary institutions are establishing a baseline for employability, and potentially supporting the development of a strategic approach to sector intervention.
“IFC Vitae is a global first-of-a-kind survey-based, diagnostic instrument which assesses, processes, structures and supports employability outcomes for higher education institutions.
“The programme provides system and institutional-level insights that help identify key intervention areas that will enhance the employability ecosystem and improve graduate employability outcomes,” he said.
The TETFund boss further noted that: “One of the key roles of TETFund is to develop an enabling system for young graduates to be part of the active labour market soon after graduation.
The TETFund executive secretary added that aligning its intervention activities to meet changing needs, and strengthening the country’s “education delivery towards fostering an entrepreneurship culture are the best ways of unleashing the enormous youth potential, addressing unemployment as well as other societal problems, and growing the economy”.
The National Employability Benchmarking Programme is coordinated by TETFund with the support of the Federal Ministry of Education, and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The National Employability Benchmarking Programme is coordinated by TETFund with the support of the Federal Ministry of Education, and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
