EARLIER this week, I was having an academic discussion with my niece, who is a 200-level student of one of the private universities in Kano. She wants to change her course of study from Biochemistry to Cyber Security Engineering but she seem indecisive about it because people around her thinks she can’t make it in Engineering and she is reluctant to discuss her options with her Level Coordinator because according to her, the lady is a “mean” somebody.
Mid discussion, I told her If she wants to, she should. People will always discourage you until you make it, and then they come rejoicing with you. And that conversation kept me thinking, in a country like Nigeria, why does the course a student studies in the university matters to everyone?
The simple answer is because a lot of people seem to think many of the courses lack value. So, for prospective university students, the question is, what are the best courses to study to make it in life?
In Nigeria today, there are courses that you will study at a university that makes it difficult to build a professional career after graduation because there is little or no demand for such courses in the country. However, this does not mean you can’t land a job elsewhere with such courses, but it’s certainly won’t be as easy as other marketable courses in the country’s labour market.
I am a strong believer in one’s ability, but considering the Nigerian factor, I have come to accept the reality that studying a non-professional course means that you must have an edge over others.
All degrees are good, but the marketability in Nigeria is the problem. And this is the sustainability we are talking about here. Immediately after NYSC, the quest to get a job begins. And if you have not studied anything that is related to human lives in Nigeria as a discipline, then be prepared to work extremely hard. This is the harsh reality that students must accept without prejudice.
Due to the job scarcity in the country, if you are not studying any of these courses, you need to work harder. We have been conditioned to believe that Health Sciences (Medicine and Surgery, Nursing, Radiography, Medical Laboratory Science, Pharmacy, etc) Law, Engineering, and some Applied Science degrees (Computer Science, Mathematics etc) are the only way of life.
Even in the Social Sciences (Economics, Mass Communication, Public Administration, Politics, psychology, etc). The management sciences (Accounting, Business Management, Marketing, etc.) are there to assist greatly in making sure that the banking sector, International businesses are guided and secured properly.
And then the Nigerian labour market has delineated courses such as; Social Studies, Home Economics, Zoology, Archeology, PHE, Botany to mention a few to be ‘less desirable’.
Some of the above mentioned ‘useless’ courses have produced men and women of honour that even a Medical Doctor can’t be compared with. It all depends on one’s ability to display his or her God-gifted potential while pursuing a passionate degree.
I have seen people who read courses that are not related to the most hyped disciplines, but their hard work, commitment, zeal and determination have worked for them. This is not all about grades, but the market values.
The essence of this piece is to pass a message. This is not to belittle one’s discipline, but the sad truth we must accept. Hard work and talent doesn’t seem to cut in the search for life’s trade and career – all that matters is what you read and from which institution.
It’s little wonder that the number of JAMB applicants who applied for Medicine, Nursing, Law and Engineering this year was way too high. This is because they were looking for independent sources of income after their studies. And considering the rate of a monetized education system that we have in the country, the highest bidder gets everything, and that is why we have a lot of charlatans as professionals.
If you ask me, the government is not helping the situation with a stagnant university course curricula. It’s long overdue for a reform in the university courses. Some courses should be scrapped and others merged and some others should just be subjects in other courses not degree programmes on their own.
In order to ensure that the skills and knowledge young people gain through education align with the demands of the labour market, Nigerian higher education institutions must go through a complete overhaul. There is an urgent need to move away from outdated curriculums that are overly theoretical towards courses that are better suited to the changing labour market dynamics.
I rest my case.
Kabara, is a writer and public commentator. Her syndicated column, Voice, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays. She can be reached on hafceekay01@gmail.com