Enhancing The Employability of Nigeria Engineering Students

I was excited that I was going to study engineering. I got two admissions, one to student Operations Research and the other to Electrical Electronics Engineering. I chose the latter and it made a great difference. However, in my second year, I noticed a gap between what we were taught in the classroom and what is happening in the world. They are two worlds separated by a deep chasm.

Prof Chris Onalo, the President and CEO, of Postgraduate School and Financial Management, said:

?“95 percent of Nigerian graduates cannot get jobs, those you see working are those supported by connections, not with what they come out of the University with. One thing with the labor market is that it keeps changing and you must have a brain that is well structured, one that recognizes the need for change and quickly move ahead to create the change for things to function properly. Our universities are to blame but they in turn lament how poorly funded they are, saying the long years of neglect of the sector was responsible for the quality of graduates being churned, not minding that we are not meeting the need of the labor market.”

Why is it so? The problem starts with the University. The Universities function like a closed system. They don’t receive input or feedback from the world outside. A fresh graduate of electrical electronics engineering came to my office seeking employment. He mentioned that he taught physics as a NYSC member in a Secondary School. So I asked him to state the Law of Conservation of Energy. He was unable to. I reminded him that he must have passed it in school, but doesn’t understand how it works.

It’s hard to understand and remember what you don’t understand. Our school system is structured in such a way that students only read to pass exams. They may have good grades but may not remember what the topic is all about. The goal of teaching isn’t to enhance understanding but instead to give materials and prepare students for exams.

I sought to bridge that gap as a student in my fourth year. So I joined with other engineering students to start an organization that seeks to bridge the gap so that students while in the University can be prepared and equipped with the skills to serve the industry.

The Blame Game Must Stop

If we keep blaming, we will never come up with a solution. I decided that I wasn’t going to blame anyone. I will have to be part of the solution. As such, we decided to develop a program we tagged “Engineers in Industry.” In this program, we provide what the University is not providing. We can’t provide what the Universities are producing, so we have to position ourselves to complement them.

Industry doesn’t need what engineers know; instead, they want to know how what engineers know can help them. All the differential equations, science, and technical knowledge an engineer knows are useless if that engineer is unable to use it to add value to the industry.

Engineers are trained to work with machines as such they have an anti-social attitude. Social engineering should be very much a part of the engineering curriculum. However, since it’s hard to change the engineering curriculum we decided to create an ad-hoc curriculum where we prepare students for industry.

We train students to do the following:

1. Solve problems for companies

2. Design solutions and technologies that make companies satisfy their customers

3. Create value for industry to make the future bigger and better

4. Bring innovation to companies by making things better, easier, faster, and cheaper

We believe that when engineers are fully in their element in an organization, wealth and jobs will be created. Instead of focusing on just machines, and how to operate, repair, and maintain them, we train engineering students to focus on the entire value chain of a business and how they can make contributions to them.

The Money Is With Humans Not Machine

“Money is a result earned by products delivering value that customers are willing to purchase.” Peter Drucker

I served in a cement factory. I was surprised the way engineers got treated in a factory where they are the cash cow. The marketing, administrative and computer staff were treated with so much value that the engineers who helped extract the limestone and transform it into cement.

It taught me a lesson. As long as engineers don’t focus on how to make life better for the humans within and without the company, they will be treated with less dignity. It’s important then that we work to make life better for humans and not just focus on repairing machines.

Every business exists to create and satisfy customers. Customers are humans. Employees are humans. This means that every engineer needs to understand how to solve problems, design solutions, create value, and innovate for humans. To be respected and valued, engineers need to:

1. Alleviate human suffering

2. Enrich human lives

3. Enable the unleashing of human potential and ingenuity

4. Enhance human flourishing

5. Foster human fulfillment

6. Elevate human experience

When engineers become responsible for the satisfaction of the customers of their employers, they will most likely be treated with more respect and value. And this is what we are creating by building the capacity and capability of engineering students.

Nurturing Talents for SMEs and Startups

“Any engineering graduate who is jobless doesn’t understand what engineering is all about.” Coach Dimeji

Our targets are to create talent for Small and Medium Enterprises and startups. We understand that these enterprises need talents that can work and help them scale. To better serve SMEs and Startups, we train engineering students to learn to engineer the business model of the company and innovate.

Our program, Engineers in Industry, is the bridge between classroom learning and industry. We are engineers who have taken the time to understand what the industry wants and how we can help engineering students supply what is needed. We prepare students to be industry fit. They gain employable skills and get paired with organizations.

We don’t train them to see work as a means to get money and meet their needs. Rather as a place to unleash their ingenuity, make life better for humans, and get compensated. Any money they receive without creating value destroys their potential. We train them to earn income based on the value they are willing and ready to create.

We help students develop real-world industry experience by solving problems, designing solutions/tech, creating value, and innovating business processes. The students get to apply what they are taught in school in industries.

Through our other projects at Engineers Without Borders Nigeria, engineering students develop skills. For instance, we train students to conduct energy audits of buildings, and energy resource audits and then design a clean energy system for a company that is effective and efficient. They are simply training to increase the value of a company by reducing costs and increasing satisfaction with the customer and revenue.

If you are a startup or SME that needs engineering students who will come and add value to your organization, you can just send a request to us ([email protected] ) and we can discuss what you want them to do. Our responsibility if to know what you want, train the students to deliver value to you, and be a good fit.

www.ewb.org.ng

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