Over 8000 graduands will be awarded diplomas and degrees in different disciplines at the University of Rwanda’s second graduation ceremony, starting today. The week-long graduation will cover the six different colleges which were merged under the university. 

For every youth, graduating from university is a dream come true and it comes with a lot of expectations like getting a good job. But the reality of life after graduation is different. A degree is not a magic bullet to getting a job but it is a stepping stone for anyone to realize their potential through putting into practice what they learnt at university.

While in the past, graduating from university meant a good paying job and a car, things have since changed.

The job market is too competitive that relying on it entirely might leave you disappointed.

This means that as a graduate your priority should be job creation. Start up anything that could see you either implement what you learnt at university or get you some income on top of creating jobs for others.

And it doesn’t have to be in urban areas. Even in the villages, which most youth dread, a graduate can start a project and become more successful than those who want to keep around town looking for jobs.

As government strives to create atleast 200,000 off farm jobs annually, the youth should supplement this effort through embracing entrepreneurship using the knowledge and skills acquired from the university.

Like Professor James McWha, the University Vice Chancellor advised in an interview with this paper, the focus for every graduate should be job creation and not job seeking. The university introduced Entrepreneurship modules in most of the programmes, purposely to emphasise job creation.

Congratulations to all the graduands!