Chapter 4

Enhancing Capacity for Sustainable

Education and Youth Employment
in Africa
Chinyere Augusta Nwajiuba, Micheal Olayinka Binuomote
and Paul Agu Igwe

Abstract
The types of employability skills and how to infuse employability skills into
education is increasingly clear in theory, but in practice, these are proving
difficult for the higher education (HE) system in developing countries. A
key question is why and how can HE system focus on graduate outcomes?
It could be argued that the African debilitating unemployment crisis has
been mainly because of the low levels of skills and low standard of educa-
tion. Building on ‘postcolonial theory’, this chapter focuses on graduate
outcomes to examine the current unemployment situation in Africa, causes
and solutions to the challenges. By exploring issues related to over-reliance
on outdated curriculum, poor teaching pedagogy, low government expendi-
ture on education and ineffective education policies, we hope to contrib-
ute to the knowledge of ways to improve HE, labour force and sustainable
development. This conceptual contribution argues that HE policies focus
should be on skills development, vocational education, digital innovations
and less emphasises on degree qualifications.

Keywords: Sustainable education; sustainable development; postcolonial

theory; African higher education; graduates; employment

1. Introduction
Education is a strong driver of human development, social mobility and eco-
nomic advancement. Therefore, sustainable education is required at all levels

International Environments and Practices of Higher Education, 31–39

Copyright © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
doi:10.1108/978-1-80117-590-620221004
32 Chinyere Augusta Nwajiuba et al.

of education to transform society by reorienting knowledge, skills, values and

behaviours needed for sustainable development (SD) according to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2014,
2019a, 2019b). Indeed, higher education (HE) has expanded considerably over
time, parallel with a growing appreciation of the role of education in human
advancement (Mahmood, 2012; Nwajiuba, Igwe, Akinsola-Obatolu, Icha-Ituma, &
Binuomote, 2020; Wils, 2015) by providing students with knowledge and skills
that employers need, thereby contributing to economic development (Canton,
Govan, & Zahn, 2018; Hack-Polay, Igwe, & Okolie, 2019; Igwe, Amaugo,
Ogundana, Egere, & Anigbo, 2018; Igwe et al., 2020; Igwe, Okolie, & Nwokoro,
2019). However, there is still less spotlight on graduate outcomes.
A key question is why has access to education not been able to solve the unem-
ployment situation in many African countries. The majority of unemployed peo-
ple in Africa are aged 15–24 years (AfDB, 2011). Across the world, sub-Saharan
Africa has the highest rates of education exclusion with about 60 per cent of
youth between the ages of about 15 and 17 years not in school and 23 per cent
of girls are out of primary school compared to 19 per cent of boys (UNESCO,
2019a). To improve this situation, post-independence from colonial administra-
tions, governments in African countries focuses on increasing access to educa-
tion. Unfortunately, this policy has failed to translate into quality education since
studies consistently find students are poorly taught, and curriculum underdevel-
oped leading to low skills and high level of unemployment (British Council, 2014;
Havergal, 2015).
Aiming to explore the causes of the low quality of education and high rate
of unemployment, this chapter examines the current situations, problems and
solutions to achieving sustainable HE. To realise HE promise, we need to pri-
oritise learning, not just schooling (World Bank, 2017). Indeed, the education
system is context-specific (Sirkeci, Acik, Saunders, & Přívara, 2018). Of course,
there is a strong relationship between quality of education, economic and social
advancement (Glewwe & Muralidharan, 2015). A good example is Korea. After
the Korean War, the Korean government focused on promoting quality education
at all levels to educate their young populations (Kim, 2004; OECD, 2005). Today,
not only has Korea achieved universal literacy and also a modern industrial econ-
omy (World Bank, 2017). This has not been the case with African countries as
human capital remains deficient both in terms of quantity and quality.
This chapter adopts the ‘postcolonial theory’ (PT) which has been applied by
previous studies (Coloma, 2009; Tikly, 2011). PT deals with the effects of colo-
nisation on cultures and societies and those societies’ responses (Ashcroft, 2017).
In this regard, we argue that the continuing gap in the quality of education in
many developing countries (Watkins, 2013) experienced by postcolonial elites
has its roots in the highly unequal forms of provision that existed during the
colonial period (Tikly, 1999, 2011). The term ‘postcolonial’ per se was first used
in literary studies back in 1989 to refer to cultural interactions within colonial
societies (Ashcroft, 2017). It is a critical body of knowledge that questions the
dominant ways through which the world is known and how this knowledge is
defined (Coghlan & Brydon-Miller, 2014).
 Enhancing Capacity for Sustainable Education 33

Therefore, this chapter adds to the literature on the effects of colonial interac-
tions on education and SD. According to the European Union (2016), there is
an urgent need to fill knowledge gaps and, possibly, to define new indicators for
more accurate measurement of the innovation performance of the educational
advancement. Following the Introduction, Section 2 explores PT and educational
quality. Section 3 examines the causes of the higher rate of graduate unemploy-
ment. Section 4 analyses the factors that contribute to education and socio-
economic development. Section 5 evaluates the role of HE stakeholders. Finally,
this chapter concludes with the implications of education for SD. Questions
about sustainability arise because of the unemployment crisis, gaps in knowledge,
low education standards and lack of innovations.

2. PT and Educational Quality

The study of postcolonialism (Carl, 2006) on societies began in the 1950s with the
work of Frantz Fanon and reached a climax in the late 1970s with Edward Said’s
Orientalism (Ashcroft, 2017). PT concept is rooted in imperialism. It describes
the relationship that exists between colonisers and colonised and how society is
affected by this relationship. The relationship between colonialism and education
is supposed to be one in which the official and non-official agents dictated what
education would be like (Kay & Nystrom, 1971). Arguably, the colonised point of
view is almost ignored (Kay & Nystrom, 1971). Postcolonialism also presents the
problem of adaptation and failure to acknowledge colonised contexts and local
needs. Some studies reveal that during British colonial rule in Africa, colonies
received an education, however, schools were segregated according to race and
ethnicity, and were designed to produce racially stratified societies, while loyalty
and allegiance to Britain were encouraged (Malisa & Missedja, 2019).
Since gaining independence from British colonial rule, Nigerian governments
have embarked on educational reforms aimed at encouraging their young popu-
lations towards educational and labour mobility. Arguably, the colonial choices
determined postcolonial ones, or at least conditioned them, such that attempts
at reforms and departure from the colonial system remains, difficult and costly
(Austin, 2010). The overall assessments of African countries’ education post-
colonial era show that education has been below standard (Igwe, Hack-Polay,
Mendy, Fuller, & Lock, 2021; Kremer & Holla, 2009; Nwajiuba, Igwe, Akinsola-
Obatolu et al., 2020a). However, there are a few exceptions. Post-British colonial
rule, Singapore has focused on educational development and through educational
advancement has transformed itself as Asia’s great success story (OECD, 2010).
In contrast to the standards set by Singapore, Korea and a few other Asian
countries, African countries have performed abysmally in most educational indi-
cators. Several problems are facing African higher education institutions (HEIs).
There is a misconception of the nature of the programmes, poor curriculum
development and implementation (Varghese, 2013). Institutions are chronically
underfunded, staff are often underqualified, staff lack motivation, students
are poorly taught and the curriculum is underdeveloped (Havergal, 2015). The
World Bank (2004, p. 1) maintains that many tertiary institutions have relentlessly
34 Chinyere Augusta Nwajiuba et al.

expanded enrolments, however, funding and education budgets have been falling.
The situation is similar in many African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya
(see, e.g., British Council, 2010; Yeh, 2016). Linked to PT the colonial curriculum
was designed to educate African children to take up subordinate roles and white-
collar jobs (Malisa & Missedja, 2019).

3. Causes of Higher Rate of Graduate Unemployment

Postcolonial era and current state of the education system in many African
countries, evidence point to HEIs producing graduates with low competen-
cies and skills (British Council, 2014; European Union, 2016; Havergal, 2015;
Munck, Schierup, & Delgado, 2012). There is a mismatch between educational
and occupational attainment levels (Brynin & Guveli, 2012) and skills develop-
ment (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), 2015). Indeed, education plays
an important role in shaping and transforming cultures and societies (Malisa &
Missedja, 2019). However, the establishment of functional education in many
African countries has been affected by several problems (Agbowuro, Saidu, &
Jimwan, 2017), thereby leading to low-quality teaching and learning. The World
Bank describes the above situation as a great injustice.

The children whom society is failing most are the ones who most
need a good education to succeed in life. (World Bank, 2017, p. xi)

Socially, young people demand degree qualifications as a means for future

prosperity. Arguably, because of overemphasises on degree qualifications, many
job seekers are over-qualified (Hack-Polay et al., 2019), and in many cities supply
of labour exceed demand leading to the high unemployment rate (Mavromaras &
McGuinness, 2012; Rafferty, 2012). Indeed, many families in Africa see Uni-
versity degree education as an option for children to pursue to break the cycle
of poverty. This has become the norm such that technical, vocational training,
professional skills and apprenticeship training are overlooked. The trend is that
most of those who pursue degree qualifications aimed to secure public service
jobs. However, these jobs are either few or non-existence and as such cannot be
accessed by many, hence, the high unemployment rate.

4. African Education and Socioeconomic Development

About 70 per cent of the African population are aged below 25, a positive indi-
cator. However, about 133 million (50 per cent of the youth population) are
uneducated and young people make up about 60 per cent of total unemployment
(AfDB, 2011). It has been proven that economic and social development depends
greatly on the extent of the quality of countries’ education and labour (Burde &
Linden, 2013; Glewwe et al., 2014; Serdyukov, 2017). Arguably, Africa is one
of the least developed as defined by several indicators, income, human develop-
ment, poverty levels, health, political stability, etc. Many factors are affecting the
 Enhancing Capacity for Sustainable Education 35

achievement of education and socioeconomic development defined as challenges

and dimensions.

4.1. Poor Quality Education

The standard of education remains low in many African countries (Masino &
Nin˜o-Zarazu´, 2016) because education policies focus excessively on high enrol-
ment and rigourous examination protocols while missing essential elements of
quality education, skills development and innovations (Igwe et al., 2021; World
Bank, 2000). In many HE faculties, there is shortages of material and human
resources for teaching and learning, lack of qualified teachers, brain drain from
the public sector to private sector, shortage of conducive classrooms and a host
of other problems (World Bank, 2000). The result of colonialism is that the cur-
riculum is often imported from either Britain or America (Malisa & Missedja,
2019). Arguably, such

curriculum was intentionally designed to produce Africans who

would have an inferiority complex when it came to their interac-
tion with Europeans and would ensure that other Africans con-
tinued to serve the interests of the colonizer. (Malisa & Missedja,
2019, p. 2)

Another feature of colonialism education that many African countries are still
battling is how to change youth’s aspiration for white-collar jobs. Hence, many
governments have developed vocational education programmes since the post-
colonial era to encourage industrial, trade and artisanal occupations. But these
policies have not achieved significant results, especially in terms of reducing the
rate of joblessness.

4.2. Corruption Which Appears to be Embedded in the Society

Among the major institutional problems, corruption has played a major role in
contributing to low-quality education in many African countries. The nature of
corruption is large in magnitude and dimension as it cuts across all levels of gov-
ernment affairs and public life. Other scholars cite bad governance characterised
by leadership failures as another factor (Faleye, 2013; Keeper, 2012; Ochulor,
2011). Corruption in society manifests itself in many ways. Take Nigerian HE
for example,

there were allegations of corruption in several federal universities

relating to the unfair allocation of grades; contract inflation; trun-
cation of staff’s salary on the payroll; employment of unqualified
staff; certificate scandal; examination malpractice; sexual harass-
ment; and issuance of results for expelled students to graduate.
(University World News, 2020, p. 1)
36 Chinyere Augusta Nwajiuba et al.

4.3. Labour Immobility and Unbalanced Development

Another finding points to labour immobility and concentration of the jobs in
the big cities (Kaplan, 2015). Take Nigerian, for example, the underperforming
economy and private sector has failed to generate growth (Fox & Liebenthal,
2006) or expand to absorb the growing labour force. The state of economic
growth and economic development policies which focuses on developing the
cities and state capitals led to economic activities over concentrating in the big
cities, leaving the small cities and town with little or no economic prosperity
to create jobs. There are several barriers to entrepreneurship and high-growth
opportunities which include – lack of finance, lack of innovation and tech-
nology, low-skilled workforce, poor infrastructure, unfavourable regulations
and more pervasively corruption (Nwajiuba, Igwe, Binuomote, Nwajiuba, &
Nwekpa, 2020). More so, the level of economic development in many African
countries has been very slow. Development planning has suffered from a lack of
coordination and harmonisation of programmes/policies (Ibietan & Ekhosuehi,
2013). The deplorable economic development has led to over-reliance on the
informal sector which continues to absorb the largest proportion of the region’s
workforce, accounting for 73.7 per cent of jobs created in 2016 (Pricewater-
houseCoopers Limited, 2018).

4.4. Imperfect Information and Lack of Employability Skills

Asymmetric and imperfect information characterises almost every aspect of the
modern labour market in the African region. Information asymmetry occurs
when the knowledge of one contracting party is inferior to that of the other
party (Dehlen, Zellweger, Kammerlander, & Halter, 2014, p. 3). Simply put, it
describes situations, in which some agent in a trade possesses information while
other agents involved in the same trade do not. This is the case with job and
labour information in Nigeria. Many jobs are not advertised, and employees do
not know what is required to undertake some roles. There is a lack of career guid-
ance and counselling in the educational system. As a result, many unemployed
persons are left without information regarding jobs availability, requirement and
needs, and many do not know the career trajectory of their programmes. Where
career and counselling units exist, units are understaffed and lack knowledge of
employability matters.
Many HEIs fail to incorporate and integrate effective employability skills
learning outcomes into the curriculum. The World Economic Forum (2018)
highlights 10 skills required to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution as
(1) complex problem-solving, (2) critical thinking, (3) creativity, (4) people man-
agement, (5) coordinating with others, (6) emotional intelligence, (7) judgement
and decision-making, (8) service orientation, (9) negotiation and (10) cognitive
flexibility (cited in Nwajiuba, Igwe, Binuomote et al., 2020). These are regarded
as the soft skills that graduates need to perform and thrive effectively in the
current and future economy.
 Enhancing Capacity for Sustainable Education 37

4.5. Ineffective and Lack of Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship education (EE) in many African HE does not prepare or facili-
tate the creation of adequate knowledge required to enable students to engage in
self-employment, hence, the majority of graduates seek white-collar jobs which
are rarely available. This is one of the major causes of high unemployment in
many African countries (Okolie, Elom, Osuji, & Igwe, 2019; Okolie, Igwe, & Elom,
2019; Okolie, Igwe, Eneje, Nwosu, & Mlanga, 2019). Indeed, HEIs need to focus
on promoting effective EE to enable graduates to become self-employed (Igwe
et al., 2019). Effective EE increases confidence, enables students to think outside
the box and nurtures unconventional talents and skills (Hack-Polay et al., 2019;
Igwe et al., 2019). EE teaches students creativity, risk-taking, problem-solving,
teamwork, effective communication and how to develop innovative approaches
to solving market needs, value creation and societal problems.

4.6. Lack of Stakeholder Involvement and Engagement

A stakeholder refers to one who is associated with the achievement of an organisa-
tion or can be affected by its actions. School administrators, parents, government
and professional bodies are key HE stakeholders. Governments and International
donor agencies have been the major financier and investors in the Nigerian HE,
while the contributions of the industry and private sector have not been encour-
aging (Nwajiuba, Igwe, Akinsola-Obatolu et al., 2020). Effective stakeholder
management enables an organisation’s capacity building (Nwajiuba, Igwe, Akin-
sola-Obatolu et al., 2020). Indeed, capacity-building between education institu-
tions, industry and non-governmental organisations is required to strengthen the
links with society and business and to reinforce the systemic impact of education
(Hack-Polay et al., 2019).
Of course, institutions and staff cannot address all the challenges of HE, so
they must be collaborative efforts with wider stakeholders with the appropriate
expertise to improve and increase the quality of education. It is expected that
different stakeholders bring diverse and complementary perspectives in the crea-
tion of knowledge and finding solutions to barriers. The achievement of educa-
tional goals requires institutions to develop strong cross-sectoral collaboration
with a wide range of external stakeholders (especially industry and professional
organisations), with each stakeholder playing a role in advancing educational
innovations.

5. The Role of HE and Stakeholders

The roles of government and civil society are critical to educational innovation.
In the last 50 years, there have been debates on how Africa’s economic and politi-
cal development can be accelerated (Acemoglu & Johnson, 2007; Moradi, 2009).
These debates focus on would Africa have been different without colonialism.
Was colonialism good or bad for African economic development? Take Nigeria,
38 Chinyere Augusta Nwajiuba et al.

for example, it is more than 58 years since the country gained independence from
colonial rule, but educational innovations and their implementation has been
slow. From the developing countries’ perspective, while Nigeria and many African
countries are still struggling to find the right policies and innovations to advance
knowledge and skills, many other non-Western nations such as Singapore, South
Korea and China that has achieved success with their educational advancement
(Rubin, 2015; Serdyukov, 2017; Strauss, 2014).
Although the focus of this article is not on any of the above questions, based
on the current state of infrastructural, economic and education development,
this study proposes that future studies focus on what could be done to improve
HE to accelerate economic and human development in the African region. A
focus on how to achieve sustainable HE will enable education policies to focus on
improving employability skills, entrepreneurial competencies and digital innova-
tions. Ultimately, the African HE system must engage more in digital innovations,
curriculum re-engineering, public–private partnership funding, infrastructure
improvement, social responsibility, corporate responsibilities and citizenships.
Universities are required to find new ways to develop knowledge, skills and
competencies (Cornali, 2012). Government policies and programmes have been
inadequate in advancing HE in many African countries, leading many students
seeking to study in foreign countries such as the UK, USA, Canada, etc. Educa-
tion innovation is necessary, if not they will be profound economic and social
repercussions (Serdyukov, 2017). Another opportunity lies in the re-design and
re-engineering of the HE curriculum (see, e.g., Igwe et al., 2021). Indeed, there
are serious concerns that universities do not focus on providing the education
required by the industry and specific workplace demands (Sam & Dahles, 2017).
There is evidence that points to the low standard in education in Africa compared
to international standards and benchmarks.
There are several challenges such as libraries being less equipped, poor research
quality, lack of professional development of staff, lack of digital technologies
and overcrowding are the major setback to the functionality of institutions. In
some institutions, the classrooms are overcrowded, the standard of the hostels
are poor and there are constant power failures and a lack of internet connectivity.
These barriers make teaching and learning obsolete. Despite the challenges facing
African countries’ education systems, the World Bank (2004) explains that sig-
nificant reforms and policy changes have been taking place in recent years. There
has been an improvement in policies allowing private investment in education,
registration of private universities and polytechnics. Many reforming universities
has put much emphasis on research quality and publications, parents–industry
collaborations, students and staff international exchange programmes, etc.

6. Conclusion and Implications

Paradoxically, African countries have the potential to experience capacity devel-
opment and inclusive growth due to their large proportion of youth population
if the education focuses on enhancing youth’s employability skills. Education for
SD requires far-reaching innovations in the way education is often practised today
 Enhancing Capacity for Sustainable Education 39

(UNESCO, 2014). Arguably, the unemployment crisis in Nigeria has been due
to the low quality of education since the country gained its independence from
British colonial rule. Indeed, education quality reform has become the foremost
global policy agenda (Hunkin, 2018). The World Bank (2017, p. xi), Varghese
(2013) and British Council (2014) warn that providing access to education alone
will not lead to sustainable economic, social and human development. What
is important is that education equips young people with the right knowledge,
skills and competencies that prepare students for the future (see, e.g., Burde &
Linden, 2013).
In this conceptual contribution, we argue that the causes of the high rate of
graduate unemployment are multifaceted and linked to several factors. Many
HEIs in Africa are not offering functional education and graduate outcomes,
hence, students graduate without critical employability skills, digital skills and
entrepreneurial competencies. Therefore, the argument is that the high rate of
unemployment among graduates is due to a lack of employability skills and not
the lack of jobs. Another problem is the overemphasis on degree qualifications
and paper certificates at the expense of professional and vocational training
among the youth population. It is common to see millions of youths applying to
study in the universities while only a few seek to gain vocation training, appren-
ticeship and work-based learning. It could be argued that the economic develop-
ment policies of many African countries have not been focused on the digital
economy, science and engineering innovations. Therefore, jobs emerging from the
new economy in many developed countries are lacking in African economies.
It has been argued that the low quality of education in many African countries
has been because of an outdated curriculum that has been based on colonial
educational ideologies that encourage developing graduates for white-collar jobs.
Other factors which compound to drive low-quality education are poor infra-
structure, lack of technology and an overcrowded environment that does not sup-
port innovation and effective knowledge creation. Besides, these factors, nepotism
and corruption which promotes bribery and cheating affect HE development.
Many HEIs lack EE centres, career advice and job centres, hence, students lack
information on their career and employability opportunities.
Removing these barriers from the HE system will eventually lead to sustain-
able educational development. Therefore, there is a need to investigate how edu-
cational practices could improve to advance graduates’ employability skills and
competencies (Brynin & Guveli, 2012; GEM, 2015) and we call on more research
to examine ways of improving the quality of education in the African region.
Given that today’s young generation will be tomorrow’s leaders and professionals,
a good education system is an investment with enduring benefits to the society
and economy. Finally, sustainable educational development will promote soci-
etal values, universal knowledge and understanding required to create a sus-
tainable world with foundations for economic, social, moral and environmental
responsibilities.