Upgraded curriculum will attract 21st century jobs – Experts

While many graduates believe that white collar jobs are scarce, experts in employment are saying that our graduates can be globally competitive in term of job opportunities, if our obsolete curricular are upgraded. According to them, as a result of advancement in technology and the ever-changing world, new jobs and opportunities could be created in future if the issue of our curricular is addressed. Speaking at the reunion of Babcock University alumni held in Lagos, one of the experts, Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, First Bank, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, in her keynote address titled ‘The World Now, the World Tomorrow- in a Technology Space’, pointed out some limitations of our curricular. She said that our institutions needed to focus on the curriculum, asking if our curriculum are future-ready or not. According to her, in many institution of higher learning, we are teaching notions of the past and not the realities of the present and the future. She said: ‘’Alumni associations need to concern themselves with how they partner with institutions because they are in a better position to say how relevant what they learnt at the school is in today’s job market. They must partner institutions to make the change where necessary.” Meanwhile, Ani-Mumuney, who doubles as the Chairman, Board of Directors, FBN Insurance Brokers, stressed the importance of a paradigm shift in all sectors, adding that there is need for Nigerians to catch up with the pace of change and take advantage of technology in tackling issues in the areas of population growth and data, as well in solving problems affecting humanity. He said: “As they collect our data for maybe telephone, who is helping us regulate that data? If tomorrow you are faced with a situation where there is corrupt data and some algorithm somewhere speaks out that you did something you know you did not do, if the regulation has not protected you, better understand how you can protect yourself by making sure that you also have data that can prove that you were elsewhere. There are ways that we can also help ourselves only if we are aware of issues; if we are not aware of issues we cannot even begin to think of solutions.” “Schools should start with those global themes affecting humanity as a whole like population expansion; all the sectors are impacted by technology, so you they should look at how to you teach students to be thinkers. That for me is the fundamental change that our institutions need to consider because if students are thinkers, then they can think and prepare for the world ahead,” said. In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Babcock University, Ogun State, Prof. Ademola Tayo, described the institution’s alumni as vibrant “because young people are now riding on the back of technology to link themselves up and because of that we are able to pull out so many of them from different parts of the country and beyond so that there will be an avenue for them to network, to give feedback to the university on how we will be able to fashion or review our curriculum to meet the emerging challenges of the world.” On the impact of the alumni on the institution, he said it is excellent because the alumni have helped the university to see the need to adjust its curriculum to meet the emerging challenges of the world today and many of them are pulling up their resources to help indigent students and many other people that cannot afford the fees. “What one can learn from the lecture is that if we are not able to key into the changes in the world today, one will be left behind and that is why one needs to watch the trend and position oneself to be able to latch on to what is coming in the future,” Tayo said.