Leveraging University-Industry Collaboration for Youth Skills Development: A Case Study of Tanzania Higher Technical Education

Youth unemployment and skills mismatch constitute a challenge for Sub-Saharan African countries, including Tanzania where approximately 900,000 youth enter the job market annually. With rapid technological advancements, fostering higher technical skills for the youth becomes exigent in Tanzania on its path from an agricultural economy to a semi-industrialized country. Previous studies indicate that equipping youth with high-level skills requires endeavours beyond university campuses. In the context of Tanzania, there is a dearth of literature on university-industry collaboration (UIC) for youth higher technical skills development. This paper presents a study of Tanzania higher technical education and examines the socio-political environment for UIC with a policy review, analyses the mechanisms of existing training-focused university-industry collaborative initiatives through

Statistics reveal sectorial employment shifts in Tanzania, but the transformation has not been substantial. According to the Integrated Labour Force Survey 2020/2021 conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics of Tanzania, 61.8% of the labour force is employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, 11.3% in the manufacturing industry, and 26.8% in services. Compared with 2014, 2021 marks a 2.8% decrease in labour share in the primary industry, 1.5% increase in manufacturing, and 0.9% increase in services (National Bureau of Statistics [NBS], 2021). The slight transfer of labour from agriculture to manufacturing and services indicates changing employment structures in line with the industrialization agenda. Upgrading the national skills profile benchmarked for a semi-industrialized economy takes effort. Approximately 900,000 youth, including university graduates, enters the job market annually in Tanzania (Gregory, 2017).
80% of graduates become jobless fresh from universities while employers claim that the graduates are not competent to merit the job offers. From 2014 to 2021, the general unemployment rate in Tanzania decreased, but the youth unemployment (age 15-35) rate increased from 12.1% to 12.6% (NBS, 2021). Numerous studies lead to a compelling conclusion that graduates struggle to meet industry requirements in Tanzania (Munishi & Emmanuel, 2016).
While higher technical education institutions are expected to be the main driver in elevating youth skills, industries need to be engaged to create opportunities where graduates polish their skills through work-based learning. University-industry collaboration, driven primarily by mutual benefits in knowledge exchanges and innovation (Bekkers & Freitas, 2008;Siegel et al., 2003), has a role to play. Training-focused UIC provides an effective solution to enhance graduates' employability competencies (Borah et al., 2021). A study by Cyert and Goodman (1997) demonstrated that university scientists found UIC effective in testing new theories, honing their skills, and training students. Whereas the origins, models, antecedents, and outcomes of UIC have been widely studied in developed contexts (e.g., Bennett, 2019), it is insufficiently explored in Sub-Saharan African countries (Ankrah & Omar, 2015), nor in the higher technical education field. Certain studies of UIC identified in the context of Tanzania show a focus on tourism industry (Anderson & Sanga, 2019), and agriculture (Mgumia et al., 2015). The mechanisms of collaboration are not systematically inspected, leaving its role on youth skills development unaccounted for.
This research aims to deepen the understanding in university-industry collaboration for youth skills development, in the context of Tanzanian higher technical education, particularly in subjects of applied sciences, engineering, and technology, answering two questions. Firstly, how are universities and industries collaborating for youth skills training in higher technical education?
Secondly, what are the existing mechanisms and organizational obstacles in leveraging universityindustry collaboration for youth skills development? Incorporating political, academic, and practitioner perspectives, the study seeks to elicit discussions in an area in lack of empirical evidence and inform practical initiatives in leveraging university-industry collaboration for skills development in Tanzania.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: Section II outlines the methodology. Section III discusses findings, starting by examining relevant national priorities and policies, before discussing mechanisms and obstacles to leveraging UIC for higher technical skills development and concluding with policy implications.

II. Methodology
This study began with a policy review and narrative literature review to synthesize existing knowledge for the identification of areas worthy of further exploration (Palmatier et al., 2018). A narrative literature review methodology was adopted due to its strengths in identifying themes, theoretical foundations, and contextual nuances relevant to the research (Ward et al., 2009). The literature review examines specifically university-industry collaboration and youth skills development in the Tanzanian higher technical education, whereas the policy review maps the political agenda in skills development that involves universities and industries.
Building on the literature review and policy review, a thematic analysis was further conducted by analyzing the university discourses around UIC. The objective is to examine examples of existing mechanisms of collaboration as presented by the university websites to the public and how such initiatives are represented as beneficial to skills development. The thematic analysis approach is utilized to detect and analyse patterns (Braun & Clarke, 2012). 12 public full-fledged universities recognized by the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) as of August 2022 are included in this study, out of a total of 34 full-fledged universities in Tanzania (Tanzania Commission for Universities [TCU], 2019). Out of the 12 universities, 2 are excluded because neither offers programmes in higher technical fields examined in this study.
Collecting information from university websites has its strengths and weaknesses. Systematic mapping from the university websites reaps the benefit of assessing what universities regard as presentable in UIC. Web discourses also reveal values underpinning how universities approach UIC. On the flip side, the websites might not be regularly updated and considering only information presented on websites misses informal collaboration at the personal level. For this study, primarily formalized UIC arrangements are considered. Informal approaches, such as individual-led consultancy, are often not directly related to skills training or teaching (Borah et al., 2021). Informal arrangements are not substantially examined also because skills development hinges more on stable formalized relationships in which both parties contribute organizational resources for a common goal (Barringer & Harrison, 2000).

Review of national development priorities and policies
Tanzania Development Vision 2025 sets a strategic agenda to transform the economy "from a low productivity agricultural economy to a semi-industrialized one led by modernized and highly productive agricultural activities which are effectively integrated and buttressed by supportive industrial and service activities in the rural and urban areas" (URT, 1999), characterized by 54% lower-level skills, 34% medium-level skills, and 12% high-level skills in the workforce. The Vision warrants political endeavours in human resource formation and education sector reform for youth skills development. 2021a; URT, 2021b), as well as national efforts to align curricula to the labour market needs. Yet, no comparable level of emphasis is put on tertiary education for higher technical skills training although the government recognizes a wide gap between the share of the current high-skill workforce (3.3%) and the target of 12.1% by 2025 (URT, 2016a). This is justified by the difficulty in catering to competing priorities simultaneously due to financial constraints and heightened needs in prioritizing the universal basic education in Tanzania. The FYDPs and ESDPs manifest a misalignment between what is needed to boost the skills profile at the higher level and the insufficient policy support rendered to higher education financially and technically. In general, scarce emphasis is found on policy enablers to incentivize university-industry collaboration for skills development.
A review of the national development priorities and policies reveals that the training of higher technical skills is a missing element in the national policy framework. The mismatch between higher education outputs and labour market needs has not been adequately addressed at the policy level with dedicated resources. The technological upskilling needed for a semi-industrialized country requires an expansion of not only the TVET (technical and vocational education and training) sector at the secondary level to fill in short-term skill shortages, but also higher technical education at the tertiary level to meet high-level skills demands in the long run. A study of the Tanzania Enterprise Skills Survey (Tan et al., 2016) indicated a positive correlation between a high share of tertiary-educated workers and firm productivity, while no impact was found significant on productivity from secondary education and TVET qualifications. However, the evidence has not yet compelled substantial policy support and investment in higher technical skills training in Tanzania.
Considering the constraints in public resources, opportunities need to be identified elsewhere.
Policy incentives to engage industries in youth skills development are essential to mobilize private sector resources. Ankrah and Omar (2015) demonstrated a myriad of outcomes of UIC in their study, including economic benefits to societies, institutional benefits to universities and industries, and social benefits to communities. It is, however, inferable from the policy documents (URT, 1999;URT, 2013;URT, 2016b;URT, 2021b) that industries are still perceived mainly as consumers of skills. A shift in perceptive to regard the industry as training co-providers is also fundamental in the policy formulation process to change discourses and galvanize momentum in UIC for skills development.

Representation of Mechanisms in UIC for higher technical skills development
University-industry collaboration is motivated primarily by knowledge and technology exchanges between higher education institutions and the industry (Bekkers & Freitas, 2008). The last decade witnessed a surge in UIC initiatives in developed countries driven by the pressure to enhance innovation and competitiveness at institutional levels (Perkmann et al., 2013). There is also a corresponding growth in studies on UIC clustering in developed contexts (Teixeira & Mota, 2012).
In comparison, universities in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) lack network with the productive sector (Ssebuwufu et al., 2012) and studies in the region are scarce and less visible. According to a systematic literature review by Zavale and Langa (2018) (Ankrah & Omar, 2015;Perkmann et al., 2013). This is partly due to the fact the motivators of UIC are primarily institutional pursuits for resources and innovation instead of skills training. However, neglecting the potential of UIC on higher technical skills development is a missed opportunity.  (2017), i.e., student projects, thesis projects co-supervised by academic and industry staff, tailored degree programme and jointly organized courses co-designed 8 and co-taught, universities and industries stand separate in their joint teaching efforts in Tanzania.
There is no systematic approach to incorporate industrial demands to the university programmes, nor industrial efforts made to enhance the teaching and training activities of universities in assuring the quality of educational services and preparing skilled graduates (Manarbek et al., 2020).

Obstacles to UIC for youth skills training in higher technical education
A policy review implies insufficient funding and weak technical support to incentivize universities and industries to engage in collaboration focused on higher technical skills development. The formation of collaboration remains fragmented, motivated more by shortterm interests than long-term plans to serve the national development strategy. The lack of initiatives to work together for skills formation translates into employers' dissatisfaction with the competencies of graduates, and mounting pressure on universities to respond to a rapidly changing labour market. Without policy instruments favourable to cross-institutional arrangements that facilitate graduates' transition from universities to the world of work, the massification of higher education might further exacerbate problems arising from an oversupply of graduates to the labour market (Bennett, 2019;Brown et al., 2011).
Uncertainties in the macro-economic environment is also unconducive to the development of university-industry collaboration. Tanzania discouraged the private sector until the 1990s when the liberalization policy came into effect. Domestic firms, currently at an early stage of development, could barely spare extra capacity to manage partnerships indirectly linked to profit-making. Training talents is off the business horizon, and industries perceive it as a state or academic responsibility. Meanwhile, foreign firms find it challenging to hire local professionals that meet their requirements (Vaaland, 2015), and opt for flying employees from their home countries as a quick fix instead of partnering with universities to train skills for the future. As the extractive industry in Tanzania is dominated by foreign companies (Ishengoma & Vaaland, 2016), there is a foregone opportunity for youth employment. Foreign firms also perceive universities as unprepared to handle challenges in the knowledge economy (Goedhuys, 2005), which is related to another obstacle.
Academic capacities are constrained in Tanzania, limiting collaboration with the industry for skills development. The higher technical skills training system itself is not anchored to the objective of training science, technology, and engineering skills (Wangwe, 1995 These obstacles, by no means, should be taken as a deterrent to UIC but need to be factored into designing mechanisms for the universities and industries to join efforts and overcome limitations in productive relationships. In contexts with constrained resources and capacities, collaboration serves to pool resources among stakeholders to create opportunities that neither party can address individually (Anderson & Sanga, 2019).

IV. Recommendations
An enabling policy environment and engaged industrial players, are indispensable in connecting universities to the world of work to enable individual flourishment, and to cement the foundation for socio-economic transformation with skilled graduates. Leveraging universityindustry collaboration for skills development requires a multi-faceted approach. The policy implications from this study are as follows.
To form a base for collaboration, stronger information intelligence is essential. Labour market analysis, employer surveys, academic research, and tracer studies constitute informative sources of evidence to enhance information channels between universities and industries. A collaborative platform is needed for employers, universities, training providers, and policymakers to deliberate on skills requirements and ways to boost higher technical skills training on a regular basis. Mutual trust and understanding built with transparent information and established platforms of dialogues will form a foundation for collaboration.
National development priorities should be matched with resources and technical support to both the industry and universities to enable their contribution to the Tanzania Vision 2025 and beyond. Although Tanzania envisions science and technology skills to be an indispensable part of industrialization, only a quarter of the enrolment is in science-related subjects. The national training policy should grant equal weight to TVET skills and higher technical skills to upgrade the national skills profile in response to technological development. Policy incentives should also be crafted in a way that incentivize the private sector to engage in skills training in collaboration with universities.
Universities and industries should make full use of platforms provided by the government (i.e., National Skills Development Fund) and take initiatives to seek resources from local, regional, and international development partners to complement institutional resources for higher technical skills training initiatives. In productive networks, collaboration cannot be unidirectional. UIC needs to be institutionalized into the strategic plans of universities and industries for higher technical skills development geared towards Tanzania's socioeconomic transformation.

V. Limitation of Study
This study is not without limitations. Firstly, the sampling of only public universities misses a mushrooming population of private institutions. Although private institutions, in general, demonstrated rare trace of collaboration with the industry (Makulilo, 2012), their constant growth might usher in a new age that merits increasing attention. Secondly, the study, with a focus on youth technical skills development, did not deal sufficiently with the issue of insufficient absorbing capacity of the Tanzania labour market and entrepreneurship training in universities, both of which deserve elaborated in-depth discussions. Thirdly, the study could have been complemented with stakeholders' perspectives drawn from interviews and focus group discussions. Further research could shed light on gauging the views of stakeholders involved in the UIC process to guide policy and practices in higher technical skills training.