The Pro-Chancellor and Dean of the College of Business, Law and Social Sciences at the University of Derby, United Kingdom, Prof Kamil Omoteso, has identified lack of entrepreneurship skills as reason first class graduates couldn’t secure jobs.
Prof Omoteso spoke at the First Class Muslim Graduates’ Summit at the University of Lagos, Akoka.
The event was organised by the First Class Muslim Foundation (FCMF).
Seventy-nine first class graduates between 2017 and 2019 sessions from different universities attended.
Prof Omoteso said many first class products had not been equipped with tools to make them succeed after graduation.
He stressed the need for institutions to integrate employability skills into their curriculum.
These include Curriculum Vitae writing, crafting personal statements, preparing for interviews/assessment centre activities, providing research assistantship, among others.
He called on government and the university administration to be serious about employability skills for students.
Lead Consultant at Habiba Balogun Consulting (HBC) Hajia Habibah Balogun said Emotional Intelligence would make them succeed at work not their grades.
Hajia Balogun, a social entrepreneur, said many graduate with first class because of their IQ (Intelligence Quotient), but their class would not make them succeed in the labour market.
“What would help them succeed is the skills which comes under the umbrella of Emotional Intelligence,” she said.
She noted that Emotional Intelligence is the ability to know oneself; ability to control emotions; ability to have good relationship with others; show empathy and be self-motivated.
“I just wanted to educate them and show them the dilemma they would face at their places of work and how they have to be aware of the differences between them and other people; different meanings people attach to what they say and how they look and different contexts they are going to find themselves – secular and Islamic, and how they must make decisions and comport themselves in such a way that their faith can enhance their work”.
