What Actually Drives Results?  

A familiar question runs through conversations about higher education systems across Africa: What is actually working? Not in theory or in isolated pilots, but in ways that consistently improve outcomes for students and institutions.  

We explore a question that continues to surface – for good reason:  

If Africa had better employability data, what would university leaders do differently? 

The Employability Imperative; Insights from the Higher Education Employability Systems Assessment (HEESA) 

Graduate employability has become one of the most urgent structural challenges facing universities across the continent. Amid rapid population growth and persistent unemployment, institutions are under increasing pressure to go beyond access and academic quality, to demonstrate tangible socioeconomic value through improved graduate employment outcomes.   

Globally, institutions are being called to align more closely with labor market needs. The World Bank highlights the growing importance of linking education systems to employment outcomes and skills relevance in rapidly changing economies (World Bank, 2019, World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work, Chapter 1). 

The issue of employability data was the focus of a recent fireside conversation at the Education Collaborative’s Education West Africa Hub Convening in Lomé, Togo, featuring Patrick Awuah, President, Ashesi University and Professor Olusola Oyewole, Secretary General, Association of African Universities (AAU), moderated by Rose Dodd, Executive Director of The Education Collaborative.  

At the center of this discussion is the Higher Education Employability Systems Assessment (HEESA), an Education Collaborative study drawing on data from 32 institutions across nine African countries. It offers one of the clearest system-level pictures of employability in African higher education to date.  

HEESA’s findings reveal a striking pattern:  

Institutions are investing more in employability, but progress remains uneven – and, in most cases, not yet supported by the kind of data systems needed to track, understand, and improve outcomes.  

The “Conversion Gap” No one Talks About  

Rose Dodd highlights a central challenge: “a persistent disconnect between effort and impact.” HEESA defines this as the “employability systems conversion gap,” where substantial investments in career centers, employability programs, and employer engagement do not consistently translate into strong graduate outcomes. 

At the heart of this gap is data – or a lack of it.  

HEESA finds that of three interconnected pillars – assessing resources, career services, and learning and outcomes – the learning & outcomes pillar, responsible for tracking, analyzing, and using data, is the weakest across institutions. In practical terms, this means limited tracking of graduates’ career paths, weak feedback loops from employers, minimal use of data to inform curriculum and strategy, and inconsistent measurement of program effectiveness. The result is a system where activity is visible, but impact is not always clear.  

This reflects a broader global trend. The World Economic Forum (2023) finds that skills gaps remain one of the most significant barriers to employment globally, with many education systems struggling to keep pace with evolving labor market demands (WEF, 2023, Future of Jobs Report, Chapter 5). 

A Data Gap – and a Culture Gap 

Professor Oyewole emphasizes the implications of this gap: 

“Without reliable data on graduate outcomes, universities often make decisions based on assumptions rather than evidence. In such a context, even well-intentioned interventions – new programs, career services, industry partnerships – risk being fragmented or misaligned with actual labor market needs.” 

He also points to deeper systemic issues: fragmented data systems, a limited use of data to guide decision-making, within universities, and a broader disconnect between policy and data – particularly the limited use of market intelligence.  

The consequence is stark:  

“We are producing graduates for yesterday, not for tomorrow’s priorities.” 

This aligns with recent findings from the OECD and the African Union Commission(2024), which highlight persistent skills mismatches across African economies—where graduate capabilities do not align with labor market demand, constraining employability and productivity (OECD/AUC, 2024, Africa’s Development Dynamics 2024: Skills, Jobs and Productivity, Overview). 

He adds that the challenge goes beyond a lack of employability data:  

“We lack a data culture in our universities. Therefore, we do not have data-based policies or governance. We criticize governments for making decisions without data, but our universities are often guilty of the same.” 

More broadly, global education discourse increasingly emphasizes the importance of data in strengthening education systems and improving alignment with economic realities (UNESCO, 2021, Reimagining Our Futures Together, Part II). 

Ashesi’s Approach to Employability Data 

Reflecting on Ashesi University’s approach to employability, Patrick Awuah emphasizes that employability must be embedded across the entire student experience, not just in career services: 

“You have to think from the beginning – what is the curriculum? How are students being taught? Are they engaging in real-world projects?” 

Ashesi collects data annually from employers on student internship performance, as well as feedback from the students themselves. Early on, this data was shared directly with faculty, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement and significantly shaping classroom practices. Today, as the university has grown, the challenge lies in making this data visible and actionable across the broader institution: 

“At the touch of a button, you can go and dig into what our surveys are saying… see trends and understand the direction of play.” 

What Will Actually Work Going Forward?  

African universities must move beyond isolated programs and invest in systems that enable continuous learning and adaptation. This includes robust tracking of graduate outcomes, systematic feedback loops with employers, and using insights to inform curriculum, career services, and institutional strategy.  

Evidence from recent graduate tracking efforts led by the European Commission shows that systematic data collection on graduate outcomes improves policy alignment, funding decisions, and educational relevance (European Parliament Research Service, 2022, Developing Graduate Tracking at European Level). 

By embedding employability data into everyday institutional practice, universities can begin to close the gap between effort and impact.  

References: 

• World Bank (2019). World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work 

• World Economic Forum (2023). The Future of Jobs Report 2023 

• OECD & African Union Commission (2024). Africa’s Development Dynamics 2024  

• UNESCO (2021). Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education. Part II.  

• European Commission/European Parliament Research Service (2022). Graduate Tracking Initiatives/ Developing Graduate Tracking at European level