The Pakistani government, through its ministry of education as well as a ministry of youth affairs, is planning to improve the employment of university graduates over the next five years with specific targets of creating 10 million jobs for graduate students.

Today, one thing is sure: the easy access to lifetime jobs is no more possible. Intense competition, changing labor market dynamics and shifting technologies, have all made it harder for jobs to remain stable and steady. However, the pressure to accommodate more and more students have become challenging for successive governments as they cannot (and should not) become the sole provider of employment opportunities – and indeed not when universities are yielding hundreds of thousands of students every year.
This challenge of employability has now thus become a political whirlwind rod, with the government attracting criticism for driving higher education growth regardless of local needs, industry insights, and labor market demands. What are some of the key reasons the Pakistani graduate students have remained unemployable despite having university degrees? Do we not have enough jobs, or are the student numbers too high or skill level insufficient to accommodate students in the mainstream economy?
The rapid rise in student numbers

Pakistan produces sheer numbers of graduates today. Rapid population growth and a youthful population, coupled with a limited increase in jobs, mean that unemployment and underemployment will continue to remain serious social problems in Pakistan. Studies also indicate that employment creation in the country continues to be affected by a variety of unaddressed challenges related to private investment, labor laws, and economic development.
With this in mind, one of the primary motivations for Consuldents was to initiate industry-academia linkages, providing students an opportunity to establish long-lasting industry connections and providing them an edge when they graduate. The growing student numbers will only be accommodated when students are capable and knowledgeable enough to work along with side industry mentors and create a niche for themselves.
Deteriorating teaching standards and ineffective student learning
Teacher quality is regarded as the most critical factor impacting graduate preparation. Pakistan has suffered from a lack of technical knowledge and pedagogical skills, which calls for additional focus. One of the primary reasons for our graduates not attaining optimum employment opportunities is the poor teacher competency as well as ineffective student learning. Ineffective student learning is explained through students’ lack of practical and soft skills that are critical for employability.

The contents of the curricula, assessment schemes, and students’ poor language and communication skills have also been identified as areas for improvement. Though the Higher Education Commission has standardized the curricula for most of the university education, the delivery of content remains a severe challenge. In times like these, more emphasis will and should be given to practical experience as part of the training modalities adopted by universities.
Universities are expected to design strategies that strengthen such links. With most of the universities now having an incubation center as well as an ORIC department, it is time that lack of teaching methodologies can be substantiated with enhanced academia-industry linkages. Students should be able to work not after four years of their undergrad but right when they are in the first semester. With changing education landscape, this is precisely what Consuldents aim for; helping students get in with the real-life industry experience while completing their studies.
Matching aspiration with challenges

While the concern and involvement of Pakistani universities in the problem to accommodate graduate employability are commendable, a lot remains in terms of realizing the goals of the delivery plans in the limited time available and taking into account resource constraints.
Many of the Pakistani graduate students come with high aspirations but with very low skill set. Their unemployability is not because they lack the desire or the motivation to excel but because they cannot succeed with the given skill set. English writing and not speaking remains the primary barrier. With Consuldents at the forefront of linking students with industry, more often than not we see students with sub-par resume, a cover letter full of grammatical errors and most of the times not able to write a paragraph in English.

If Pakistani graduate students to excel, the English deficiency needs to be improved. We recommend students to avail Consuldents service pack features, giving them a chance to improve on the resume writing, cover-letter writing, LinkedIn social profile, and interview preparation. The service pack features are priced very nominally and are geared towards helping students attain something better for themselves.