In this study, the generic skills refer to basic/fundamental skills (technical, literacy, using technology, knowledge of task, numerical ability, hands-on ability); people-related skills/interpersonal qualities (Communication, inter-personal relationship, teamwork); thinking/conceptual skills (planning, collecting and organizing information,  problem-solving, learning to learn, creativity); business-related skills (Innovation and enterprising); community-related skills (civic and citizenship sense/knowledge) as according to [18,1].

Employment opportunities

International Labour Organization ([ILO], 2018) denotes the first dimension of employment measurement referring to the quantity of jobs created by a youth employment intervention, with the primary indicator being the employment rate of project beneficiaries. It is one of the measurement indicators for decent work with the menu of indicators such as employment creation, status in employment, and new businesses. This study uses this ILO notion as its authoritative meaning of employment opportunities.

Technical higher education institutions (THEIs)

THEIs in Tanzania are the institutions offering course programmes which are technical in nature at undergraduate or postgraduate levels. Their course programmes are generally based on engineering, science and technology. Their course programmes include civil and irrigation engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, computer engineering, mining engineering, telecommunication engineering and computer science. Other programmes include laboratory science and technology, food science and technology, architecture technology, information, communication and technology. Most of the teaching and learning process is spent in the field-work, laboratories and workshops in these Technical Higher Education Institutions.

The human capital theory

The Human Capital theory was originally developed by Schultz in1963 and later on improved by Berker in 1964 [19]. It is noted as one of the exemplary works in economics stating that the economic benefits are obtained by individuals and society by investing in people [20]. Education emerges constantly as one of the human capital investments apart from health and nutrition [20]. The theory further states that education provides individuals with knowledge, skills and abilities i.e. the more the individuals are educated, the more they are able to perform in their jobs for increasing productivity [19].

This study is mainly guided by the Human Capital theory. The variable “education” from the theory is termed as “generic skills” in the study at hand. On the other hand, the variable “job performance” from the theory is termed as “youth employment opportunities” in this study. The theory relates to the study in the sense that, the generic skills influence youth employment opportunities. It must be remembered that, the generic skills are obtained through education and the given skills in turn lead to youth employment opportunities after graduation.

Role of the HEIs in inculcating generic skills

Various literatures address positively the roles played by the HEIs in inculcating generic skills to their students. For instance, Olomi and Sabokwigina [15] show the efforts of different HEIs’ initiatives and measures towards contributing to the production of enterprising graduates through introduction of various courses including entrepreneurship education. Munishi [16] likewise maintains that, many African countries including Tanzania have made significant efforts to promote HEIs with an aim of enhancing graduates’ employable skills and boost economies. Furthermore, Dasmani [17] stresses that; one of the salient features of HEIs is their alignment towards equipping graduates with employable skills through Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET). The HEIs are committed to the challenge of providing students with all the skills that enable them to respond to the ever-changing needs of contemporary society and the workplace [3].

On the other hand, the HEIs are blamed not to play well their role in inculcating the generic skills. Ndyali [13] demonstrate that, the HEIs are blamed for producing graduates who fail to meet employment demands in the labour market. This implies that, many graduates leave school without the requisite skills or competences needed in today’s economy and society [13]. The HEIs fail to meet the current labour market expectations and they are blamed for producing graduates who fail to meet employment demands in the labour market [14]. The HEIs are claimed to miss qualified skills or competences needed in today’s economy and society; and they lack attributes other than those skills needed in the subject-specific discipline i.e. Generic Skills [5]. The graduates from HEIs face difficulties in securing employment mainly due to mismatches of skills and a high number of candidates for every job [2]. This means that, graduates across the world are often accused of lacking employable and generic skills.

Generic skills and youth employment opportunities

Several studies show the influence of generic skills on youth employment opportunities particularly as important skills for successful employment. Singh and Gera [1] find generic skills to influence positively youth employment opportunities in sense that they generate new skills that help to succeed in new situations, manage and adapt to changes and to flourish by creating what matters even in the face of diversity. Generic Skills play a major role in employability, as well as in achieving well-being and personal goals [3]. Generic skills are very important traits that employees should possess in a demanding business environment and for their respective professional success [11]. The generic skills prepare employees for lifelong learning, complex judgments about their work performance, right decisions making in uncertain and unpredictable circumstances, problem solution than formulation and future development [10]. Furthermore, generic skills are significant in increasing productivity and sustainability of organizations and working environment by enhancing graduates to acquire, retain and flexibly move on with the acquired employment opportunities in the labour market [21].

Conceptual framework

The conceptual framework of this study is based on the theoretical and empirical review presented in the previous sub-sections. Two chief variables are predominantly taken into account in this study: generic skills and youth employment opportunities. The generic skills comprise of fundamental, people-related, personal, thinking, business-related and community-related skills [18,1]. Alternatively, youth employment opportunities infer the quantity of jobs created by a youth employment intervention by including employment creation, status in employment, and new businesses (International Labour Organization, 2018).

The independent variable of this study is generic skills while the dependent variable is youth employment opportunities. The Human Capital theory and some empirical studies (e.g. studies [1,10,11,3] demonstrate on the relationship between generic skills and youth employment opportunities. This implies that generic skills were thought to influence significantly youth employment opportunities in this study. In other words, the logical relationship between the variables of this study is made by the given theory and empirical review as demonstrated in Figure 1.

METHODOLOGY

This study was approached quantitatively. The quantitative approach dominated this study due to the nature of the study’s main questions with causal-effect. This nature of questions always requires the study to be approached quantitatively. The study of this nature is usually supported with quantitative data. The approach of the study facilitated understanding of the research problem more completely by explaining relationship between the variables i.e. generic skills and employment.

The study used descriptive and explanatory cross-sectional survey design. The design was appropriate for the study as it assisted in studying every final year student as a unit of analysis. The design as well provided a quick, efficient and accurate means of assessing information about the study population by describing and explaining the true nature of generic skills and employment. The “what” questions of the study also necessitated the survey design to be applied in the study at hand.

The data were collected from Mbeya city, Dar es Salaam city, Mwanza city and Arusha city in Tanzania. The cities were chosen because of being big cities in Tanzania absorbing a large number of entrepreneurial business activities. They are the cities with several zonal headquarters of government and private sectors. They are full of businesses and several entrepreneurial enterprises compare to other cities in Tanzania. Several Higher Education Institutions are likewise located in these cities and may in one or another way influence self-employed enterprises covering and meeting the needs of the students. There is also presence of several agents and middlemen for various companies in the given cities.

Stratified simple random sampling was used in this study. The technique aided the classification of the studied population of graduates as from 2015/2016 into strata on the basis of their characteristics such as course programme pursued in the institutions. The graduates were now picked randomly from each stratum. Since the technique was random, it likewise provided an equal chance of selecting each final year student from the strata identified. The availability of complete list, accurate and up-to-date sampling frame of all the final year students in the institutions facilitated the use of the stratified simple random technique.

The sample size of this study was 400 graduates. There are criteria of obtaining sample size including formula, small population as whole, saturation point, and nature of data analysis. However, this study obtained its sample size based on nature of data analysis i.e. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR). The sample size requirements for MLR is calculated using the formula “N > 50 + 8m (where m = number of predictors”) [22]. After calculation, it was noted that, this study has not violated the sample size assumption i.e. N>50+8 (6) = 98. It must be noted that, this study had maximum six predictors and 400 cases which are more than 94 obtained from the formula above. However, 300 questionnaires were received and found complete and useful for the data analysis. The response rate was 75% (Table 1).

Both sexes of THEIs’ graduates were surveyed in this study, whereas the majority of them were the male. This implies that, the bigger number of THEIs graduates are the male compare to female in surveyed cities in Tanzania (Table 2). Concerning the variable age, the majority of the surveyed THEIs graduates had therefore the age between 25-29 years old. Furthermore, marital status was one of the demographic information explored among the surveyed THEIs graduates in this study. The results show that, the majority of the graduates were single meaning that, graduates who were surveyed in the four cities of Tanzania were single (Table 2). Moreover, the lowest education level considered in this study is certificate while the highest level is postgraduate and the results in Table 2 show that, the majority of the graduates had bachelor degree in the surveyed cities of Tanzania.

Since the location of this study was four big cities in Tanzania, the majority of the surveyed graduates were therefore living in Dar es Salaam though the insignificant difference is observed from graduates living in other cities as shown in Table 2. The study at hand likewise established the programmes pursued by the graduates when at the THEIs. Table 2 indicates that, the majority of the THEIs graduates pursued engineering programmes as from 2015/2016 academic year.

This study used principally primary data. The data were gathered using questionnaires. Since the data were collected from 400 graduates in Mbeya city, Dar es Salaam city, Mwanza city and Arusha city in Tanzania; the questionnaire became relatively cheap, quick and efficient way of obtaining large amounts of information from that large sample of people. The questionnaire became a successful means of measuring the attitudes and opinions from relatively large numbers of graduates more cheaply and quickly than other methods. The questionnaire had closed-ended questions with multiple choice answer options and they facilitated analyzing those using quantitative methods i.e. descriptive statistics and Multiple Linear Regression.

The gathered data were analyzed mainly using descriptive statistics and Multiple Linear Regression. The Descriptive Statistics was used to analyze the characteristics of the respondents, to check variables for any violation of the assumptions and to address specific objective number one of this study. On the other hand, Multiple Linear Regression was used in order to test and establish relationship between pursued course programmes and knowledge level of generic skills; generic skills and youth employment. It was used to address specific objective one and two that had causal-effect relationship. Each objective had more than one predictor and one dependent continuous variable i.e.

Specific Objective 2: Y=ɑ+β1χ1+ β2χ2+ β3χ3+ɛ

where:

Y-Criterion (i.e. Generic Skills)

ɑ-constant (intercept)

β 1-3-Regression Coefficients

χ 1-3-Predictors (i.e. Engineering, Science, Others)

Specific Objective 3: Y=ɑ+β1χ1+ β2χ2+ β3χ3+ β4χ4+ β5χ5+ β6χ6+ɛ

where:

Y-Criterion (i.e. Youth Employment Opportunities)

ɑ-constant (intercept)

β 1-6-Regression Coefficients

χ 1-6-Predictors (i.e. Basic Skills, People Related Skills, Personal Skills, Thinking Skills, Business

 Related Skills, Community Related Skills)