TAILORING HIGHER EDUCATION IN KENYA TO THE DEMANDS OF THE POSTINDUSTRIAL WORK PLACE.

Abstract

The unemployment rate and the disappearance of certain jobs in the Kenyan work place is a major concern

that needs urgent attention. This paper does not necessarily focus on labor market analysis or how to improve

graduate employability, but rather attempts to present an anthropological description of the contemporary

work place, a reality that most educators may not be familiar with. It reveals the new patterns in organizational

structures with a focus on customization and globalization; and stress on the demand for design rather than mass

production that characterized the traditional work place. Implications for individual workers and challenges

to higher education in terms of academic screening, the curriculum specificity, the basis of education and

schooling are discussed. The paper stresses the importance of understanding the changing requirements for

today’s laborers as this has important implications on higher education in terms of skills, training and capacity.

Specifically, educators are asked to respond to the question “What does it feel like to produce graduates whose

employment is not guaranteed? This question is foundational and intentionally asked in this paper to awaken

the responsibility and imagination of educators, for without a sense of responsibility and imagination the gross

problem of unemployment of the Kenyan graduates will not be solved.