TECH DIGEST – There has been a renewed call for strategic collaboration between industry and universities to enable institutions produce the relevant calibre of graduates to fill the skill gap in the ever-changing work place dominated by technology.

The Executive Director, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Dr. Yunusa Z. Yau, who made this call while speaking with TechDigest.ng., lamented that stakeholders in the labour market have continued to neglect the effect of skill shortage due to obsolete curricular.

Dr. Yau said the inability of universities to produce skilled manpower to match the evolving digital technologies is a result of lack of cooperation between industry and institutions of higher learning in the country.

He advised that universities’ curricular must be upgraded with new content to deliver quality manpower required for the industries to function, noting that digitization has exposed the lack of synergy between key stakeholders in higher education.

“Universities are producing skills but not the type that industries require. Research institutes are producing research outputs but not the type of outputs that industry needs. They remain in shelves.

“What is needed is to institute a regular interface and dialogue between industry and training institutions so that institutions can understand better what the industry needs and therefore tailor their training outcomes toward meeting that.

“Take engineering as whole for example, the problem is not just that the content is outdated but that we need to realise what industry need is not a graduate engineer with knowledge and the skills ready- made to work in an industry but about the ability and disposition to learn, relearn and to adapt to changing work environment,’’ he explained.

The CITAD boss urged the government formulate policies that would guide universities to produce graduates equipped with fresh skill, knowledge and capacity for critical thinking in order to fit in the real world of work.