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Kwara State University Center for Career Services
Career Services Staff Dashboard. In colaboration with Tetfund
At Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, the Green University for Community Development and
Entrepreneurship,
our priorities and policies are firmly studentcentered, ensuring that we provide not just education but
holistic career preparation.
Our goal is to equip students with the skills, competencies, and opportunities needed to excel in an
increasingly competitive world.
In response to this challenge, TETFUND, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation of
the World Bank Group,?
launched the National Employability Programme in 2022. A key recommendation from this initiative was the
establishment
and strengthening of career services units in higher education institutions to provide structured
support for students as they transition into the workforce.
This website serves as a strategic platform to enhance and expand KWASU’s career services, reinforcing
our commitment to producing graduates who are not just job seekers, but job creators, innovators, and
solution providers.
Through initiatives like this, KWASU continues to bridge the gap between academia and industry,
fostering a system that empowers students with career guidance, industry exposure, and entrepreneurial
skills.
However, across Nigeria, university graduates continue to face significant challenges in securing
meaningful employment. Employers have repeatedly raised concerns about the workplace readiness and skill
gaps among graduates,
which has led many organizations to introduce pre-employment training programmes to bridge the gap
between education and industry expectations. This reality highlights the urgent need for universities to
take a more proactive role in career development,
ensuring that students are well-prepared for both employment and entrepreneurship.
I commend the Management of the Tetfund, Directors of the Centre for Career Services and CIITR and their
team for their tireless efforts in making the career services website a reality. Their dedication is
instrumental in ensuring that KWASU remains a leader in career-driven education, providing students with
the tools and resources necessary for a successful future.
On this note, I hereby enjoin our students most especially to take advantage of this dedicated website
of Career Services at KWASU, Malete to enhance their careers.
The Director, Career Services Centre of Kwara State University, Malete is from the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry,
Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, specializes in the field of Analytical Chemistry in the core areas of Environmental and Industrial Chemistry.
He earned a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) Chemistry and a M.Sc. Chemistry from the University of Ilorin before obtaining a Masters of Research (MRes) in Chemistry from the
University of Nottingham and his Ph.D. from the Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom.
Prof. Mustapha was appointed a Director on the March 4, 2024, and he is expected to propel the University’s
Career Services to attain the objective of assisting the transition of tertiary education students’ from school to the workplace.
Career Services are a set of services and academic supports provided to students
at higher education institutions aimed at assisting students’ transition from school to the workplace.
The establishment is the culmination of an enormous collective effort that began in late 2023 when our university was selected as one of the
72 selected beneficiary universities in Nigeria to establish the Centre for Career Services. From that moment, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Shaykh Luqman Jimoh,
and his management swung into action and started supporting in one form or another towards the establishment of the center. In today's fast-paced world, rapid technological advancements, changing demographics, and unpredictable economic conditions pose challenges.
Nigeria's growing youth population faces both opportunities and problems, including a job crisis and increased youth unemployment, which has impacted poverty, crime rates, and brain drain.
To address these issues, higher education should focus on skills based learning and training that emphasizes entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
1. To establish effective career services at Kwara State University, Malete
2. To educate staff and students on robust career programs
3. To enhance existing service units to improve graduate employability.
1. The program offers career guidance to students, promoting workplace skills and marketability.
2. It fosters independence post-graduation, promotes entrepreneurship, facilitates job networking, and provides career coaching and counseling.
3. It addresses students' needs at various stages of university life, emphasizing career-related activities.
4. It emphasizes creating impactful resumes and integrating career education into academics.
5. It differentiates between career coaching and counseling, emphasizing self-assessment and goal setting.
Our vision is to empower students by providing them with meaningful experiences and cutting-edge exposure to
explore major career options, both for current students and graduates.
Our mission is to offer career-related coaching, extensive resources, and specialized programming to empower students to make well-informed decisions about their lifetime career journeys.
The program includes capacity-building programs for students and career staff, promoting visiting career service offices, enhancing orientation for new students, reviewing skills acquisition programs, organizing career talks, facilitating industry visits, promoting volunteering for experiential learning, and engaging alumni in career talks, job shadowing, and mentorship for students. It also emphasizes career related aspects and enhancing skills acquisition programs.
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Tetfund) has conducted several capacity building workshops to address the issue of graduate employability in Nigerian higher education institutions. The first workshop, a 5-day workshop, was held in Abuja on 16-20 October 2023, in collaboration with Cognity Advisory. Since then, the Trust Fund has organized several workshops, including a virtual training workshop on entrepreneurial mindset and skills acquisition, a collaboration with Clarity Education Limited at the ICE 56th International Conference & Exhibition, and a 2-day workshop for directors of entrepreneurship, career centers, and librarians in beneficiary institutions. These workshops aim to help institutions build competencies through creativity and cutting-edge technology, aligning with the mission and vision of Kwara State University to be a knowledge-driven society. The Tetfund approved an initiative focusing on year-round capacity programs and training for students and staff, involving strategic programming, hands-on learning, and continuous mentorship. The initiative acknowledges that employability is not acquired through a single workshop but through sustained engagement with realworld skills and evolving labour market expectations, including career development programs, career support services, and training and capacity building programs.
One of the Career Center's primary duties is to offer students career-related counseling services about decision-making, goal-setting, and career selections. The Kwara State University Career Centre swung to some training programs such as:
The training aimed to equip career unit staff with necessary skills to establish effective university career services and provide students with career guidance, workplace skills development, and marketability.
The KWASU Career Services Centre aims to benefit the university and its students in the short and long term by
providing practical career-building techniques and essential professional development skills.
This will help students stand out in the competitive job market, strengthen the university's standing, and create a
more knowledgeable and flexible workforce. It is equipped to address students' needs at different stages of their university life,
emphasizing career-related activities and helping them create impactful resumes.
The centre also encourages economic growth and lowers unemployment rates in the community.
The deputy director, Mr. Jamiu Olaoye,is the principal counseling officer of the center.