This is according to\u00a0Seth Trudeau and Keno Omu of the African Leadership University<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>who said it has now become more important “how” students are being taught as opposed to “what” they are being taught.<\/p>\n “Business leaders frequently say there are jobs, but a\u00a0lack of skilled talent<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to do them,” they said.<\/p>\n “There are two commonly cited explanations. The first is that financial, human capital and infrastructure constraints have a negative impact on the range and\u00a0quality\u00a0of skills students graduate with. The second is the disconnect between what universities teach and the skills needed in the\u00a0market,” they said.<\/p>\n This mindset change has been reflected by a number of companies, notably Ernst & Young, who from 2016 onwars\u00a0removed degree classifications.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The company noted that, while academic performance was still an important factor when deciding on candidates, it “found no evidence to conclude that previous success in higher education correlated with future success in subsequent professional qualifications undertaken”.<\/p>\n Moving away from traditional\u00a0<\/strong>universities<\/b><\/p>\n According to\u00a0Trudeau and Omu, South African universities need to rethink their approach to learning if they are to produce people with the critical thinking, leadership, collaboration and problem solving skills needed for\u00a0modern life.<\/p>\n They said that the majority of learning in African universities still occurs in large lecture halls and rewards\u00a0the ability to remember and repeat information –\u00a0one of the\u00a0least effective\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>ways of learning.<\/p>\n Instead the duo believes that the effective learning takes just three things:<\/p>\n “To produce graduates with the appropriate skills and ways of thinking, they will have to change the way they see, design and assess learning,” they said.<\/p>\n\n
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“Universities are the planning stage for a society\u2019s aspirations. African universities must begin to produce employable leaders who will meet the challenges that are hindering the continent\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n