Patience Makwele
Education experts and policymakers have raised concern over the growing disconnect between university qualifications and labour market demands.
They warned that Namibia’s higher education system risks producing graduates for unemployment rather than economic participation.
The concerns were raised during the Redefining Education Summit hosted by the University of Namibia (Unam) in Windhoek on Wednesday, where academics, students and policymakers debated the future of higher education and the need to shift towards skills-based and innovation-driven learning.
Discussions at the summit focused on the growing mismatch between university training and labour market realities, particularly as graduate unemployment continues to rise across several sectors.
TVET task force member Henny Seibeb urged young Namibians to pursue technical and vocational careers alongside traditional university qualifications.
“Young people must stop looking down on technical fields,” Seibeb said.
“There are specialised technical skills capable of generating higher income than many traditional white-collar professions.”
He cited underwater welding as an example of a highly demanding but lucrative profession capable of creating sustainable income opportunities for young people.
“Besides a university degree, young people should also pursue technical fields so they become fully equipped for the changing economy,” he said.
Seibeb further argued that Namibia’s education system continues to reinforce a “job-seeker mentality” rather than preparing graduates to create opportunities independently.
“The job-seeker mentality is a structured product, not a personal deficiency,” he said.
According to Seibeb, governments across Africa are increasingly prioritising TVET as part of broader continental economic transformation strategies.
“When I was in Parliament, we took the position that TVET must be promoted because economies are changing,” he said.
Teacher and Unam alumnus Cedrik Chabola said unemployment within the education sector has become particularly severe, with many qualified graduates unable to secure jobs.
“Statistics continue to show that education graduates are among the most unemployed in the country,” Chabola said.
He blamed part of the problem on subject combinations offered during teacher training, arguing that some graduates are entering an already oversaturated employment market.
“Subject pairing has affected many graduates, and in some cases graduates cannot entirely be blamed because institutions are aware of these challenges,” he said.
Dr Tadeus Shikukumwa from Unam’s department of applied educational sciences said between 36.9% and 40% of qualified graduates are currently waiting to be absorbed into the teaching profession or other employment opportunities.
He warned that the growing mismatch between training programmes and labour market demands continues to worsen unemployment levels nationally.
“There is a mismatch between training and market demands and that is contributing significantly to unemployment,” Shikukumwa said.
He said many graduates remain heavily dependent on government employment opportunities, particularly within the education sector.
“The bottleneck we are facing is dependency and overreliance on the Ministry of Education for employment opportunities,” he said.
Participants at the summit stressed that higher education institutions must focus more on innovation, entrepreneurship and practical skills development if graduates are to compete in a changing labour market.
Student participant Alexandrina Thuyeni Jacobs said universities are failing to adapt to changes in the economy.
“Universities can no longer continue operating as though the labour market has remained frozen in time,” Jacobs said.
“We are still producing graduates for an economy that barely exists anymore, while industries are evolving faster than institutions are adapting. Young people are leaving lecture halls with qualifications, but without the practical, technical and entrepreneurial skills the market is actually demanding.”
Another participant, Osvaldo Uirab, said qualifications alone are no longer enough to secure employment.
“A degree on its own is no longer a guaranteed pathway to employment. I personally think that the reality facing us young people is brutal today. Thousands are graduating every year only to sit at home waiting for opportunities that are simply not available. Institutions must start preparing students to innovate, build businesses, adapt to technology and create opportunities for themselves instead of depending entirely on government absorption.”
Labour economist and education analyst Precious Martinus said the growing frustration among graduates reflects deeper structural weaknesses within Namibia’s education and economic systems.
She warned that the country risks producing a generation of qualified but economically excluded young people if institutions fail to align education with labour market realities.
“We cannot continue measuring success purely by the number of graduates entering the system while ignoring whether the economy is capable of absorbing them,” Martinus said.
“For years, Namibia has promoted degrees as the primary pathway to economic mobility, but the economy itself has not expanded at the same pace. What we are now witnessing is a dangerous collision between rising educational attainment and limited employment creation.”
Martinus said universities and policymakers must urgently rethink the relationship between education, entrepreneurship, innovation and industrial development.
“If higher education continues producing graduates for sectors that are already saturated, frustration and hopelessness among young people will continue growing. The conversation now must move beyond access to education and focus seriously on relevance, adaptability and whether graduates are being equipped to survive in a rapidly changing economy,” she said.
