At Strathmore University in Nairobi, a central question shapes how the institution thinks about its students: will enrolling here give you a better shot at being noticed in the job market? According to Jotham Njoroge, chief of staff in the office of the vice chancellor and a philosophy lecturer at Strathmore, that is exactly what prospective students are asking before they commit to any university today.
The question matters because the landscape of higher education across Africa is shifting. Public universities, long the primary gateway to degree education for most Africans, are under real strain. Chronic under-funding, overcrowded classrooms, faculty shortages, and lecturer strikes regularly interrupt academic calendars. Graduates are leaving these institutions and families are quietly asking whether the education they received was worth the wait.
That anxiety is pushing a growing number of middle-class and affluent African families toward private universities. Institutions like Ashesi University in Ghana, Covenant University in Nigeria, and Strathmore in Kenya are part of a rising cohort filling the gap that was once filled by universities abroad. These families are willing to pay a premium, and they want results.
Strathmore's answer to that pressure is a focus on workplace readiness, not just academic credentials. Njoroge argues that in an era when knowledge is freely available online and artificial intelligence can handle increasingly complex technical tasks, strong grades alone no longer impress employers. What employers want, he says, are candidates who can communicate clearly, solve problems, lead teams, work across cultures, and stay adaptable under pressure.
The tricky part, Njoroge is honest about this, is that those qualities cannot be taught from a lecture podium or measured in an exam. Early, real-world exposure to the workplace is what actually builds them. How Strathmore is putting that philosophy into practice is the question worth watching.
Originally published by African Business.