Personalised learning, mobile-based learning and upskilling of the current workforce are some of the opportunities identified as a means to reduce unemployment across Africa.
This insight was made by Arpit Badjatya, a visiting edupreneur, who has spent the last week visiting institutions of higher learning and engaging with academics and institutional leadership.
“Personalised learning that tracks the unique learning path of the individual and takes cognisance of personal learning styles and course curriculum design, are two of the methods of ensuring a student attains the goal of upskilling and education,” he says.
“Not all students are suited to traditional university education and technology can supplement the role of institutions, achieving the same goal – an educated population that’s ready for employment.”
South Africa has the second highest number of mobile phone users on the continent after Nigeria, with what is believed to be 78% of the population using mobile devices.
“With over 40-million unique subscribers, mobile-based learning seems an obvious solution. With the device in the hands of the person to be upskilled, learning can be personalised and the rapid development of cutting edge apps makes this possible,” adds Badjatya.
Upskilling the current workforce is a key and accessible method to reduce the high unemployment rate in developing countries.
According to Badjatya, he frequently meets leaders who claim to have plenty of jobs, but not the correctly trained people to fill those jobs, and unemployed people who claim that if they were trained they would be employable.
“Technology is a key for skills development course delivery,” he emphasises.
Badjatya recently completed a tour of South Africa, visiting some of the country’s Ivy League universities, colleges and school groups presenting Academia ERP. This software is the brainchild of Badjatya and a team of 150 software designers in India, and is currently used by 175 higher education institutions, mainly in the Middle East, India and Africa.
