People believe that attending a good higher institution can help transition a student from the classroom to the corporate/working world faster than normal. This has little to do with the grades the student graduates with but rather the stellar reputation of the university to always put out people that can survive in the adult world.
But, is this claim entirely true?
Every graduate while in school thinks about the kind of job his or her qualification and ability would fetch, not the university he attended. Even before students complete their studies, their focus would have shifted to proving what makes them shine above their peers in the job market, aside from their qualifications. This comes with knowing that employers need to know why they may be a good fit for their particular company or organization.
It is, however, surprising to find out that the school in which they obtained their qualifications may someday matter more than the qualification itself. A report by Corporate Staffing Services, a local human resources company, reveals that employers rarely go for job seekers who schooled in certain schools.
In as much as that’s the case, i congratulate all the Kenyan university graduates. After all, their studies and efforts have brought them somewhere, even if it hasn’t fetched them a job but at least it has gotten them to the next phase of their life. Nevertheless, the report shows some schools are preferred more than others while others are never remembered.
On this list, the most preferred schools by employers are stated first before the least preferred, according to the report.
University of Nairobi:
This is the first among other Kenyan universities. Based on the report, 85% of employers in Kenya choose graduates from the University of Nairobi when hiring graduates from public universities.
The university, which is based in Nairobi, is one of the largest in Kenya. It was formed in 1956, under the University of East Africa umbrella. In 1970, the university split into three independent institutions; Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and the University of Nairobi.
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), according to the report, has the second-most desirable graduates that employers are looking to hire.
The school, which started in 1981, was previously known as Jomo Kenyatta College of Agriculture and Technology (JKCAT). It is situated in Juja, 36 kilometres North East of Nairobi, along Nairobi-Thika Highway. The school provides accessible quality training, research, and innovation in order to produce leaders in the fields of Agriculture, Engineering, Technology, Enterprise Development, Health Sciences, Social Sciences and other Applied Sciences to suit the needs of a dynamic world.
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Kenyatta University and Moi University
The third most-desirable set of graduates are from Kenyatta University and Moi University – although at distant percentages.
Kenyatta University is a multi-campus public institution with its main campus in Kiambu County’s Ruiru Constituency, Kahawa area. The school is one of the leading universities in Kenya, judging by the quality of its graduates. It is the third University to have been created in Kenya.
Moi University, on the other hand, is the second among Kenyan universities to be created, after the University of Nairobi. It is a public university located in the town of Eldoret in western Kenya.
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Strathmore University
Strathmore University outranks every other private university in the country as its graduates boast the highest preference among employers with 78%.
The university is a private institution based in Nairobi, Kenya that offers science and arts courses. It provides an all-around quality education in an atmosphere of freedom and responsibility; excellence in teaching, research and scholarship; ethical and social development and service to society.
The school is best known for its successful accounting program with 60% of the CPA finalists in Kenya coming from it in the past ten years, dating back from 2007.
Following Strathmore University are Daystar and United States International University (USIU).
Maasai Mara University was least at 0.6 percent while Multimedia University is just above it at 1.3 percent.
The least preferred is Presbyterian University and the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton.
The report reads:
“The main reasons why the respondents prefer graduates from the selected public universities is technical expertise and knowledge of industry displayed by both the staff and students…”
The report further stated that: “…Graduates from the said private universities are preferred due to the reputation of the university in terms of specialization, years of existence and society involvement…”.
The report about Kenyan universities also suggests that students concentrate on obtaining specialized work experience and job knowledge as much as possible.
