Article Gold Open Access 2017

Addressing employability challenges: a framework for improving the employability of graduates in Botswana

International Journal of Adolescence and Youth
Journal · Vol. 22 · Issue 4 · pp. 455-469
Abstract

While Botswana has long invested in education, high unemployment rates among the youth, females and university graduates remain a critical challenge for the country. Despite this challenge, research on the issue is scant and solutions to assist the affected groups to enhance their employability remain scarce and inaccessible. This paper employs a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approach to investigate Botswana university students’ knowledge of employability skills and attributes. It further assesses whether there are differences between the skills and attributes that students perceive as important versus the ones that have been reported as important by the global labour market. The paper also proposes a framework for ensuring the development of employability skills and attributes by different players in the labour market. The proposed framework recognizes employability as a joint responsibility shared by training institutions, employers, incumbent employees and potential employees. Implications for future research are also discussed. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

Author Keywords

employability youth Labour market unemployment Botswana graduates

Index Keywords

Skill human juvenile student employability university employer Botswana human experiment responsibility unemployment Exploratory research employee market joint
Author Affiliations
Department of Psychology, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
Department of Political and Administrative Studies, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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10 Indicators, (2013)
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