Young Africans Speak: Views on University Education and the Transition to Work from Ghana, Kenya and Uganda
Quality data is the most important asset for informed decision-making.
To build an understanding of how education stakeholders perceive issues related to the educational system in their respective countries, Education Sub Saharan Africa commissioned IPSOS-Ghana in 2021 to conduct data collection activities in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. The data collection focused on higher education students, recent graduates, faculty members and education decision-makers.
This report explores the data and sheds light on the views of students and recent graduates on access to higher education and its quality, as well as on the school-to-work transition in the three countries under consideration.
The contributions of this report to existing literature are threefold:
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Using primary data, this document reflects the perspectives of students, graduates and faculty members about access to and the quality of tertiary education in their respective countries;
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It partly informs decision-makers about the main challenges faced by students, graduates and faculty members, in addition to suggestions for improvement made by these stakeholders;
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By collating the views of different stakeholders in the higher education ecosystem, this work enhances ESSA’s understanding of how students, graduates and faculty members assess the issues we work on. It also helped identify some knowledge gaps, motivating further investigations.
Policy implications of this report include a need for an equitable scholarship policy targeting students in need, more emphasis on entrepreneurship and practical training, and investment in infrastructure, research facilities and capacity. The survey data revealed big challenges facing the higher education system in the three countries under consideration.
This study raises important questions that deserve further research and the urgent attention of education decision-makers, such as the school-to-work transition and the attractiveness of studying abroad.