Labour needs assesment workshop
The workshop was held at Egerton University with seven participants drawn from the partnering universities in attendance.The workshop was held from 19th to 23rd May, 2014 and was facilitated mainly by Dr. M. K. Ambula and Dr. J. Langat. During the workshop, four presentations were made. The first presentation titled “Competency Based Training in the Dairy Sector”addressed the needs for competence based learning (CBL). It was apparent that CBL was necessary due to the increasing demand for quality graduates by employers. It was observed that CBL adds value to the graduates over and above the certificate, diploma or degree. CBL ismore student centered and task oriented compared to the traditional system and produces graduates that are all round and hands on. It was suggested that the structure of the dairy chain be illustrated to students to enable them understand the chain and actors involved, as well as being able to identify job prospects or opportunities of self-employment within the chain.
The second presentation focused on “Curriculum Design”with emphasis on how an ideal curriculum should look like. According to her presentation, Dr. Ambula infered that an ideal curriculum design should be competency based in order to allow students to internalise concepts, be observant in the real situation and be applicative. Proposed competency based curricula lay-outs for certificate, diploma and bachelors in Animal Science and Dairy Science and Technology were reviewed and discussed.
A presentation on “Labour Needs Assesment” was presented by Dr. Langat based on a study carried out by the Netherlands Development Organisation( SNV) to asses the demand and supply of skills and competences for the dairy sector. The recommendations put forward included incooperation of practical training to complement the theoretical training to enable graduates to be hands on; stimulate linkages between dairy educational institutions at various levels in the dairy sector; develop a curricula that focuses on communication, management and entrepreneurial skills and that dairy training should shift focus from training for government jobs to training for the dairy industry.
