IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/afjrde/263301.html

Responsiveness of agricultural training curricula in African universities to labour market needs: the case of Gulu University in Uganda

Author

Listed:
  • Walter, Odongo
  • Stephen, Wamala Kalule
  • Enos, Katya Kule
  • Elly, Ndyomugyenyi
  • Duncan, Ongeng

Abstract

Agricultural universities in Africa have a core responsibility to develop and implement relevant curricula to produce well trained human resource to guide stakeholders in production, value addition and marketing to meet the expected quantity and quality requirements of modern agri-food supply chain systems. This paper presents innovations in agricultural training curricula at Gulu University in Uganda designed to produce the breed of graduates, blending in character, the attitudes, hands-on practical skills and knowledge to exploit and succeed in the commonly perceived “non- attractive” labour market of the agricultural sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Key ingredient in curricula orientation, as a critical input in modelling that type of graduate, is the integration of community engagement and agri-enterprise development in student training. Making use of the Bachelor of Agriculture (BAG) degree programme, the pioneer programme that kick-started the new training orientation, we conducted a tracer study to document employment characteristics, transition to employment and the level of satisfaction with training approach among the first five graduate cohorts (2009-2013) in 2014. Results showed that 84 % of the graduates were employed within the first six months after graduation. The employment rate surpassed 90 % after one year. About 80% of the graduates were employed in rural and semi-urban localities. Employment was in diverse sectors including government extension advisory services, financial institutions, non-governmental organisations, the private sector, agricultural research and graduate-own agro-based enterprise. Only 1.7 % of the graduates had established businesses. Most graduates were satisfied with job placement while over 90 % of the employers were contented with competencies exhibited by the graduates. This paper illustrates that integrating community engagement and enterprise development in student training contributes greatly to building competencies of agricultural graduates for the labour market.

Suggested Citation

  • Walter, Odongo & Stephen, Wamala Kalule & Enos, Katya Kule & Elly, Ndyomugyenyi & Duncan, Ongeng, . "Responsiveness of agricultural training curricula in African universities to labour market needs: the case of Gulu University in Uganda," African Journal of Rural Development (AFJRD), AFrican Journal of Rural Development (AFJRD), vol. 2(01).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:afjrde:263301
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.263301
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/263301/files/7%20Odong%20W.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/263301/files/7%20Odong%20W.pdf?subformat=pdfa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.263301?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:wbk:wbpubs:16608 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Mugisha, Johnny & Nkwasibwe, Anthony, 2014. "Tracer Study of Agricultural Graduates in Uganda," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 183862, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    3. K. Pauw & M. Oosthuizen & C. Van Der Westhuizen, 2008. "Graduate Unemployment In The Face Of Skills Shortages: A Labour Market Paradox1," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 76(1), pages 45-57, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Victoria Kakooza & Robert Wamala & James Wokadala & Thomas Bwire, 2019. "Do Graduates from Arts-Related Disciplines have a Higher Impact on Unemployment than Graduates from the Science-Related Disciplines?," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 8(4), pages 1-52, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Boccanfuso, Dorothée & Larouche, Alexandre & Trandafir, Mircea, 2015. "Quality of Higher Education and the Labor Market in Developing Countries: Evidence from an Education Reform in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 412-424.
    2. Mattos, Enlinson & virtual::5854 & -1 & Ponczek, Vladimir Pinheiro & virtual::5855 & -1 & Silveira, Priscilla Bacalhau Velloso da & virtual::5857 & -1, 2019. "College quality signaling and individual performance: effects on labor market outcomes after graduation," Textos para discussão 502, FGV EESP - Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil).
    3. Vuyokazi Pikoko & Andrew Phiri, 2019. "Is There Hysteresis in South African Unemployment? Evidence from the Post-Recessionary Period," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 15(3), pages 365-387, JUNE.
    4. Precious Mncayi & Phindile Mdluli, 2019. "Why are they not looking for employment? A South African Youth Perspective," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 9912247, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    5. Bhorat, Haroon & Köhler, Timothy, 2025. "The labour market effects of cash transfers to the unemployed: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    6. Hélène Maisonnave & Bernard Decaluwe & Margaret Chitiga, 2016. "Does South African Affirmative Action Policy Reduce Poverty? A CGE Analysis," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(3), pages 212-227, September.
    7. Derek Yu, 2012. "Youths in the South African labour market since the transition: A study of changes between 1995 and 2011," Working Papers 18/2012, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    8. Hayley McEwen & Anthony Leiman, 2008. "The Car Guards of Cape Town: A Public Good Analysis," SALDRU Working Papers 25, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    9. Lucilla Maria Bruni & Jamele Rigolini & Sara Troiano, 2016. "Forever Young?," World Bank Publications - Reports 24996, The World Bank Group.
    10. Usha Devi Chuttoo, 2020. "Effect of Economic Growth on Unemployment and Validity of Okun’s Law in Mauritius," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 12(2), pages 231-250, May.
    11. Hendrik van Broekhuizen, 2016. "Graduate unemployment and Higher Education Institutions in South Africa," Working Papers 08/2016, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    12. Justine Burns & Lawrence Edwards & Karl Pauw, 2010. "Wage Subsidies to Combat Unemployment and Poverty: Assessing South Africa’s Options," SALDRU Working Papers 45, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    13. Alexandre Larouche & Dorothée Boccanfuso & Mircea Trandafir, 2011. "The impact of the PDEF on the labour market outcomes of «high-skilled» workers in Senegal," EcoMod2011 3572, EcoMod.
    14. Sumberg, James & Anyidoho, Nana Akua & Chasukwa, Michael & Chinsinga, Blessings & Leavy, Jennifer, 2014. "Young people, agriculture, and employment in rural Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 080, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. James Sumberg & Nana Akua Anyidoho & Michael Chasukwa & Blessings Chinsinga & Jennifer Leavy & Getnet Tadele & Stephen Whitfield & Joseph Yaro, 2014. "Young People, Agriculture, and Employment in Rural Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-080, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Derek Yu, 2013. "Youth unemployment in South Africa since 2000 revisited," Working Papers 04/2013, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    17. Daniela-Emanuela D?n?cic?, 2017. "Higher Educated People And (Re)Employment Probability In Romania," Annals of University of Craiova - Economic Sciences Series, University of Craiova, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 1(45), pages 82-94, November.
    18. Fox, Stephen, 2016. "Leapfrog skills: Combining vertical and horizontal multi-skills to overcome skill trade-offs that limit prosperity growth," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 129-139.
    19. Derek Yu, 2008. "The South African labour market: 1995 – 2006," Working Papers 05/2008, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    20. Frederick C.v.N. Fourie, 2011. "The South African unemployment debate: three worlds, three discourses?," SALDRU Working Papers 63, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:afjrde:263301. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://afjrd.org/jos/index.php/afjrd/index .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.