Higher Education and Youth Preparation for the Labour Market: the case of Universities.

This paper examines the role of higher institutions of learning, especially university, in preparing youth for the labour market. Human capital formation has been described as a pre-condition for the success of any nation. One important institution that entrepreneurs in both public and private sectors of the economy rely on for the production of high level manpower is the university. However, evidences have shown that a largemismatch appears to exist between university output and labour market demand. There is an abundance of university trained labour, but the most worrisome feedback from employers of Nigerian graduates is just how serious quality deterioration has become. Most employers observe that the qualities of university graduates have worsened. This paper, therefore, examines the ideal role of universities, the causes of quality deterioration in Nigerian universities and strategies to solve the prevailing problems in order toprepare and produce quality graduates for the labour market in Nigeria