Let every degree demonstrate what graduates can achieve, Ruto tells universities

 

Ruto on Thursday said the country cannot build a 21st-century economy with an education system that prepares young people to reproduce yesterday’s answers. [PCS]

President William Ruto has challenged institutions of higher learning to move away from preparing graduates merely for employment and instead equip them to create enterprises, create jobs and generate wealth.

Ruto on Thursday said the country cannot build a 21st-century economy with an education system that prepares young people to reproduce yesterday’s answers.

Speaking at International Leadership University as he awarded a charter to the institution, Ruto said universities across the country must make a deliberate effort to move away from memorisation to critical thinking and from certificates to competence.

The institution now transforms from a theological college to a chartered university.

“Every generation inherits challenges. Some complain, others explain why nothing can be done, while others wait for someone else to act. But progress belongs to those who accept responsibility and get to work,” Ruto said

The Head of State said that Kenya needs scientists who find solutions to diseases, farmers who turn harvests into enterprises, engineers who build for future generations and entrepreneurs who create jobs.

“We need leaders who see problems and accept the responsibility for solving them. This is the difference between education that produces qualifications and education that builds capability,” Ruto said, adding, “Knowledge and expertise matter, but their value lies in their application. A degree should certify more than what a graduate knows. It should demonstrate what that graduate can achieve.”

Ruto said Kenya Kwanza’s ambition is to build a knowledge-driven, globally competitive economy with a strong, modern services sector.

“We want Kenya to export not only agricultural produce and manufactured goods, but also technology, financial services, professional expertise, and innovation,” he said.

This, Ruto said, will create a conducive environment where a software engineer in Nairobi can serve a company in London, and a financial analyst in Kisumu, Migori or Lodwar can support an enterprise in New York.

Ruto on Thursday said the country cannot build a 21st-century economy with an education system that prepares young people to reproduce yesterday’s answers. [PCS]

“I therefore challenge every university in Kenya to teach through real challenges and problems. Let counties bring their urban planning challenges, hospitals their service delivery problems and cooperatives their post-harvest loss challenges,” he said, noting, “Let students apply their knowledge and demonstrate results.”

Ruto further challenged the institutions to design programmes with industry and expand practical attachments so that students encounter the realities of the workplace before graduation.

“Make every graduate digitally capable, able to use technology, work with data, and apply artificial intelligence responsibly,” he said.

According to Ruto, graduates should know how to identify a need, develop a solution, find customers, and build sustainable businesses. Kenya needs young people capable of taking up jobs and creating them.

“There is no dignity in the conditions of poverty. A hungry child has the right to education, but hunger makes it harder to learn. A graduate has the freedom to pursue their ambitions, but unemployment makes those ambitions harder to realise,” he said.

Ruto said Kenya has no shortage of people who complain about problems, criticise every effort to solve them and lament the challenges they face.

“What we need are people with the courage to act, the competence to deliver and the determination to succeed. Let our educational institutions produce fewer spectators of our national development and more builders of our common future,” he said.