Tech tool helps students to boldly bridge gap to job market

A new interactive tool used for assessing university students’ digital skills for employability is helping African universities to prepare graduates for the job market.

With funding from the Ghana-based Education Collaborative and led by Ghana’s Ashesi University, digital tech company Bridgia developed and deployed the digital skills assessment tool across 16 universities in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Botswana. Nearly 4,000 students preparing to enter the workforce participated.

The pilot project in the African universities was launched in 2023 and has enriched educational programmes while helping to improve recent graduates’ digital literacy and employability skills.

The tool uses a chatbot to present a scenario with work-related tasks that require digital skills to perform. Students then reflect on the tasks and respond with their ability to perform them. Upon completion of the conversation with the chatbot, an assessment report is e-mailed to the students with their scores across different digital skills areas, including links to resources for improving their skills.

Additionally, a campus or faculty report is made available to staff at the career office or any other unit responsible for student skills development that can be used to plan digital scaling programmes.

Bridging the gap

The project’s principal researcher and Bridgia’s cofounder and CEO, Segun Ogunwale, said the initiative aims to bridge the gap between academic preparation and the demands of the global job market. According to Ogunwale, some institutions have embedded the tool into their courses for internships and graduating students.

“This tool supported digital skills training and career workshops in many higher institutions and supported faculty and career services staff to prepare students for jobs,” Ogunwale told University World News.

He said that the initiative has supported digital skilling for more than 1,000 participants in Jigawa state, Northern Nigeria, and was featured at the International Telecommunications Union Digital Skills Forum last year.

Ogunwale said that the tool helps a graduate or continuing student transition to industry, through graduation or internship, by providing a detailed digital skills report and is specific to digital skills relevant for employability. The assessment report features various levels of digital skills such as coding, critical thinking, industry awareness, digital marketing, data, digital communication, productivity and collaboration, analysis and problem-solving. Students can then use the results to close specific digital skill gaps.

From tool to skills platform

Bridgia now aims to scale up, planning an expansion of the tool to reach 100,000 students annually and provide up-skilling opportunities to 10,000 students to improve career readiness.

“This will be achieved by widening access to public higher institutions, where most students in Sub-Saharan Africa are enrolled. We will continue leveraging networks such as the Education Collaborative, which has more than 30 higher institution members and has helped us to get this far. We plan to embed it in career programmes for students in higher institutions and extend the tool into a skilling platform whereby students can build a portfolio of projects,” Ogunwale said.

He said the tool is offered free to universities. Bridgia will make sure it is available continually, and the tool prepares students for entry-level roles across the job market although it is not yet aimed at specific roles and industries.

Some of the universities that have tailored it to their use include Nigeria’s Pan-Atlantic University and Botswana’s Botho University which have embedded it in their virtual industry-readiness programmes.

High praise for initiative

Oluwadarasimi Adeniyi, a graduate in information science and media studies from Pan-Atlantic University, said she gained practical insights into improving her digital skills and effectively using tools like e-mail, social media and collaboration platforms. Ketshephaone Mambule, a business administration graduate from Botho University, said the tool helped him learn the importance of digital technology and online presence, and why they are essential to organisations.

Professor Halleluyah Oluwatobi Aworinde from the College of Computing & Communication Studies at Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria, said digital skills offer students significant benefits that are essential for their academic, professional and personal growth.

“These skills provide students with the technical competencies that are highly sought after in today’s job market. They equip students with industry-relevant abilities such as data analysis, digital marketing, and coding. This creates a competitive advantage for students when applying for internships, jobs or graduate programmes. It doesn’t just lead to employment; it also makes them employable,” Aworinde said.

Learning outside the box

Speaking to University World News, Aworinde said digital skills training prepares students for remote work environments by teaching them how to use collaboration tools, manage virtual teams, and maintain online productivity.

With a change in thinking in teaching and learning globally coupled with emphasis on adaptive and personalised learning, and knowledge acquisition, Aworinde said teaching and learning are no longer confined to the classroom. “Students learn to use digital tools to enable them to complete any given task or project more effectively. They are provided with online resources to consult for them to get their assignments done; they navigate online libraries, databases and educational platforms, thereby expanding their access to knowledge,” he said.

Through his experience with the tool and his students, Aworinde said that, when students go through digital-skills training, it enhances their critical thinking and problem-solving ability which improves their logical thinking and the ability to break down complex problems into manageable steps.

“Bridgia’s initiative of developing a digital skill assessment tool for graduates in Africa is laudable. I have administered the tool to my students at distinct levels, and I’ve found it gave a holistic picture of where each student stands digitally and provides insight on ways to upskill, pointing to areas needing improvement.”