Hundreds of Kenyan graduates are set to benefit from a work placement deal to connect them to employment opportunities in Germany.
This comes after Mount Kenya University signed an agreement with Nairobi-based recruitment agency Bluewave International Services to secure job opportunities for graduates in Germany’s hospitality industry.
MKU School of Hospitality, Travel and Tourism Management Dean Jane Kanjuru Kuria said the first batch of 22 graduates out of the expected 150 have already left for Germany.
The 22 are part of the group of individuals who were successful in recently concluded interviews that targeted those who graduated between 2017 and 2022.
“We are glad to state that the first batch of our students has left for Germany through our partnership with Bluewave International Services,” said Ms Kuria.
The number of Kenyans out of work has soared over a decade, fuelled by slow economic growth, inflation, and technology disruptions that have resulted in job cuts.
Data from the World Bank shows that 5.7 per cent of Kenya’s labour force was unemployed in 2021, up from 2.8 per cent when the Jubilee administration took power in 2013.
Bluewave International Services founder and managing director Amos Mbugua said the unemployment figures are worrying and the partnership is timely to help solve the crisis.
“Job openings are limited yet every year our graduates are released into the strained market and that is why we are working on another partnership with Mount Kenya University targeting its graduates and students in nursing and food science,” said Mr Mbugua.
In October last year, MKU announced that it had inked a healthcare assistant training programme and apprenticeship pact with Germany’s Hochschule Koblenz University of Applied Sciences to tap into the growing demand for health workers in Germany.
The programme was implemented through the university’s affiliate institution, Equip Africa Institute. The institution offered short-term certificate courses for healthcare assistants and after that released the students for apprenticeship and subsequent job placement in the European country.
The German labour market is increasingly experiencing a widespread scarcity of qualified labour, with nursing being one of the professions most affected. Studies predict a shortfall of up to 500,000 nurses in Germany by 2030.
