Skills Acquisition and Labour Market Opportunities for Graduates of Higher Education in Cameroon

Abstract

This study examines skills acquisition and labour market opportunities for graduates of public universities in Cameroon. Four research objectives and one hypothesis guided the study which examined the extent to which social, technical, conceptual and entrepreneurial skills acquired by graduates enhance their employability. The population of the study consisted of 79 graduates with bachelor’s degree, including 29 employers. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 2.3) was used to analyse the quantitative data. The quantitative data were analysed using frequency count and percentages while the qualitative data were analysed using a thematic approach with the aid of key concepts/themes, groundings and sampled quotation. The Spearman’s rho test was adopted for the study in testing the hypothesis. Results reveal a significant relationship between skills acquisition and labour market opportunities for graduates (P<0.05). The positive sign of the coefficient value for each of the skills to labour market opportunities (social skills .132*, technical skills .241*, conceptual skills .241*, entrepreneurial skills .393**) shows a positive correlation with labour market opportunities; that is, graduates stand a better chance to be employed when they possess the above-mentioned skills with entrepreneurial skills contributing more, followed by conceptual and technical skills with higher correlation values and lastly social skills. It was recommended that HE institutions should design competency-based curriculum for all programmes to enable graduates acquire the relevant skills. A closer engagement of universities and employers is recommended for better skills productivity.