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Before we start today a disclaimer: My last startup was called EntryLevel and our tagline is ‘Experience gets you the job - not your degree.’
That tagline converted. And it also tells you that I might be biased against university. If you have a different take on university I'd be happy to hear it.
Speaking of EntryLevel..
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Unbundling University
University is a fascinating institution.
It’s amazing to have a period in your life where your job is to think and be curious as (almost) an adult.
But looking back at university and putting the ‘startup lens’ on, it’s easier to see it for what it is.
A business. And one of the best at that.
How many businesses do you know that:
Have hundreds of millions in recurring revenue through tuition
Own real estate
Are classified as a public service and get tax exemptions
Manage huge, multibillion dollar funds through endowments (and are LPs in most of the VC funds you know, like Andressen Horowitz).
Universities crush it when it comes to making money. But when we look at the outcomes for students, they’re not as exceptional.
University has become table stakes.
You need a university degree to even be in the conversation to get a job.
But when you finish a four year (debt-generating) degree, you are one of thousands (if not millions) of others applying for the same roles as everyone else.
At EntryLevel we called this the ‘sea of sameness.’ Any students or recent graduates might find it familiar. It goes like this..
You’ve just finished your degree, completed a couple of online courses and maybe even done some extracurricular activities.
With a smile on your face, you set sail on the next chapter of your life.
Then you see hundreds, thousands - no, millions - of boats just like yours setting sail next to you.
To an observer on the outside, all the boats look the same.
If they were to choose one, it would be at random. Or, it might be because one boat has a more colourful sail.
It’s both a humbling and scary thought to think that there are a lot of people competing for the same role as you.
If that wasn’t bad enough, we have two tsunami's on the way that we call:
Globalisation 🌍With a small global world, companies can now hire anywhere in the world, and the pool of prospective candidates has increased exponentially.
Automation 🤖There are jobs that just no longer exist (Enter GPT-4). We’re seeing more companies today make more money with less people than ever.
It really does incite fear (and converts customers 💁🏾♂️) - but it's true.
You are up against thousands of others, a lot of jobs are not relevant today and the candidate pool is even bigger.
It’s the reason students are in a rush to stack on internships, summer associate roles and work experience - because university just doesn’t cut it.
As Jim Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape said to a room of unconvinced British Investment Bankers:
Those bankers thought Microsoft would launch their own web browsers and demolish Netscape (which went on to be acquired for $4.2 billion).
University is no different. It’s being unbundled by startups.
My thesis is that this unbundling is happening in four ways: Discovery, Jobs, Community and Learning.
Discovery 🔎
‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ - the annoying question you get from every uncle/aunty/family friend from age 5.
If the life-long pressure wasn’t enough, high schools make students choose their subjects strategically from grade 11.
But half of students do not feel confident with their career path when they enrol to university, and change their major at least once before earning a degree.
The process of career discovery should happen earlier, before university.
Startups like Craydel have developed learning pathways and tests to help you find your ideal career path before starting your degree.
Jobs 💼
The main function of university is to find a secure, well-paying job.
Undergraduate university degrees take 3-4 years. And like we mentioned, finishing a degree is table stakes to land another job. Faster, less risky alternatives to university are popping up and taking over the market.
Startups like EntryLevel show you the basics of a tech role in 6 weeks. Others, like AltSchool, will train and help place you in a role.
Community 🫂
The most fun function of the university experience - the community. University taps you into a community of learners you study with, socialise with and collaborate with.
But now, rather than building a community around broad career fields (like Business Administration or Engineering), we are seeing startups building communities of learners based on specific careers and interests.
Startups like Dream VC with their Venture Capital Accelerators, and Zindi creating a community for up and coming data scientists.
Learning 🧠
At university, learning is structured across subjects, with low to no flexibility on what you choose to learn. Learning is now on-demand and at your own pace.
University is being unbundled by Massive Open Online Courses - like Udemy, Coursera and edX (which provides accreditation from universities like Harvard and Stanford for free).
YouTube creators also fill this gap. For instance, Programming with Mosh has taught software engineering skills to over 3 million people on his YouTube channel.
The unbundling of university is true universally. But in Africa, it hits different.
Meet your new co-workers 🤝
Africa is the workforce of the future. More than 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25.
By 2030 Africa will be home to more than one-quarter of the world’s total under-25 population.
And when COVID accelerated the adoption of remote work, employers cozied up to the idea of hiring someone on the other side of the country.
Why not hire someone on the other side of the world - and at a discount?
Africa’s growth contrasts the ageing working population of the global north, and as a talent gap grows employers will start to look across the pond and over to Africa.
But work outcomes across Africa arent great: African countres have the highest rates of unemployment.
35% of Africa’s young population (between 18-35) are unemployed, and 31% work informally and are economically vulnerable.
This sets up Africa to be the workforce of the future. But can university keep up?
Let’s hone in on Nigeria.
While EntryLevel was built for emerging markets, we had the most success in Nigeria by far. This was because there were hardly any other options for university students last year.
Nigeria’s University Union, ALUU universities went on strike for 8 months - from February 14th to October 14th. That's 8 months of waiting for University to come back.
And it’s hardly the first time. There have been 17 strikes like this in the last 23 years.
And when university is up and running, not everyone can get in.
In Nigerian universities only 26% of University applicants can enter. Not because of grades - but because there is no space.
Julia Moffett from the Future of Learning Fund, which invests in startups using new models of learning in Africa, summarises where we are left perfectly:
Demand clearly outstrips supply in African higher education, and universities are struggling to keep up with rapid changes in tech. We can expect startups to emerge that will radically change higher education on the continent.
Changing Courses 🧭
So, we are presented with a few pathways and schools of thought in the future of education and work in Africa:
1. Skip university and go straight for job-gold.
As I’ve said a couple times - Tech is a golden ticket in Africa. Startups are helping talent learn tech skills and get placed, like Startups like Andela, TalentQL, Moringa School.
2. Re-build university - from the ground up.
Re-designing university to cater to emerging markets and be focused on what you can do rather than what you know. While I say that casually, it’s very difficult to build. But it’s being done by startups.
3. Play the University game, but do it well.
Help students in Africa discover their dream careers before they apply for university. Then place them in global universities that are the best fit for them.
In the next couple of weeks we will dive into each of these pathways and talk to the founders building them.
But in the meantime - what do you think of the Unbundling of University?
And that's a wrap! If you're missing our Tech Round Up today hold on tight for Saturday for all the news in African tech this week.
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Catch you soon!
👋🏾 Caleb