Contextualising Graduateness in Africa: Teacher Educators’ Perspectives and Literature Insights

Abstract

The world is becoming more of a global village, especially in this era of Education 5.0, Fourth Industrial Revolutions and Artificial Intelligence. This is made possible by the interplay of world economies, resources and the contributions of higher education graduates. For Africa to be at par with other parts of the world, there is the need to contextualise graduateness and who an African graduate should be. It is upon this premise that we adopted the critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) methodology, underpinned by the Human Capital and the Perry’s Intellectual Development theories to explore what constitutes graduateness, graduate attributes and skills, the impact graduates make in the African society, challenges that militate against graduateness, and the strategies we believe could be adopted to improve the status of graduates in Africa. Findings indicate that being a graduate goes beyond what is taught within the walls of a classroom. It further includes skill development and upskilling, accidental and experiential learning, knowledge and experiences gained from the community, society, and graduate's personal surroundings (family). A graduate should amongst other things, be emotionally intelligent, humane, ethical, innovative, abreast with the current societal cum global trends, and responsible to the needs of his or her immediate family and the larger society. This paper concludes that the challenges militating against graduateness, and the development of graduate attributes and skills in Africa be vehemently addressed. The strategies as highlighted in the paper be adopted and activated for the sustenance and enhancement of the African graduate.