The African Centre for Career Enhancement & Skills Support (ACCESS) consortium of universities will be holding an international academic conference and summer school in Hammamet, Tunisia, from October 1 to 5, under the theme: “Graduate unemployment in Africa: towards a paradigm shift”. The conference, which will bring ACCESS’ research program (2020-2024) to a successful closure, will focus on the need to revisit economic and other theoretical foundations, in order to update the link between improving the levels of education, particularly university education, of a country’s human resources, and economic growth and development, in African countries. It will also analyze the problems associated with university training in African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), the inadequacy of course selection, and the quality of higher education, all of which contribute to massive graduate unemployment. The conference will also consider how to redefine and contextualize the concept of employability in Africa.

These events are part of the programs implemented by ACCESS, a consortium of six African universities from Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tunisia, working with the University of Leipzig , Germany, to study the stagnation of the labor market in Africa despite the increasing level of formal education of the employed and salaried population. As a first step, the program set up to investigate graduate unemployment in these countries. This doctoral program enabled fifteen African students, including three Tunisians, to write or prepare theses in Germany and in English, on the issues addressed by the program. The aim was to develop specific, in-depth knowledge of graduate unemployment and the localized prospects for employability in their respective countries. A comparative approach was strongly emphasized in all dissertations. ACCESS is also developing new teaching models to enhance the employability of African students, while increasing their opportunities in the global market, by connecting them to international companies. The consortium aims to create a practical platform for African higher education institutions (HEIs), in collaboration As for the summer school, it will focus on capacity-building for teachers and doctoral students, integrating teaching and research practices adapted to socio-economic realities. Academic networking and cooperation between universities, HEI(s) and companies will also be encouraged. The workshops will provide an opportunity to promote innovative techniques in research, teaching and university management. The summer school workshops will also provide an opportunity to promote innovative techniques in research, teaching (e-learning), ToT coaching (e-coaching) and university and HEI(s) management. Participants will also have the opportunity to interact and participate, via various workshops, in the construction of innovative methodologies, including those of strategic planning in Tunisian universities and HEI(s), Service Learning (lifelong and extra-curricular learning) and its implementation.

At the same time, Tunisian business and political leaders will share their perspectives on cooperation between the university and its economic, social, cultural and technological environment. Academic networking is encouraged by the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the University of Tunis, which hosts ACCESS and has supported it since its launch in 2020.

This major event takes place in a regional economic context marked by rising unemployment on the African continent. According to Prof. Dr. Hamadi Tizaoui, geographer and economist at the “Faculté des Sciences Humaines et Sociales de Tunis” (University of Tunis) and organizer of the event, graduate unemployment, which affects a growing proportion of the population in many African countries, has become a major problem. Exacerbated by the devaluation of diplomas in a context of limited job opportunities, this phenomenon is particularly severe for women graduates. This paradox is reflected in a higher unemployment rate among graduates than among non-graduates, sometimes reaching levels four times higher. In Tunisia, at the end of 2019, higher education graduates accounted for 41% of the unemployed, with an unemployment rate of 38.1% for women and 15.7% for men.

Graduate unemployment is particularly acute in disadvantaged interior regions, where it exceeds 50% in some governorates such as Kébili and Gafsa. These regional disparities exacerbate socio-political tensions, triggering social movements such as those seen in Tunisia in 2011. This problem has become a central issue in several African countries, such as Morocco, Algeria and Senegal. It requires in-depth analysis by social scientists to understand the underlying economic and political dynamics. The ACCESS conference and summer school would be a great opportunity to share the program’s research findings with African university ecosystems and, above all, with institutional decision-makers and business leaders, for a better understanding of the issues and challenges facing labor markets in Africa, the Maghreb and Tunisia.