Tech Experts Develop Ribara to Bridge Graduate, Industry Gap

A group of field experts has developed Ribara, a social network connecting alma mater industry peers and mentors to protégés on campus.

The social network will also reveal the value of individual skills and proficiencies and bridge the gaps between undergraduate/graduate training and the industry while tracking industry trends to help universities keep up.

A member of the Ribara team, Dr. Ada Peter, explained that it could tell young people exactly how they rank in the skills they claim to have, what gaps exist between them and their dream job roles as well as show young people what bespoke offerings are capable of closing these gaps. 

“The system also recommends field mentors and peers for informational interviews. Also, there are opportunities to pursue internship and graduate traineeship goals and access to the opportunities,” stated Peter.

Peter disclosed that there were 200 million undergraduates worldwide, with nine million in Africa and 1.7 million in Nigeria, who are affected each year by the widening gap between industry demands and what the university is offering. 

“Often, graduates possess intense theoretical knowledge but miss the practical skills needed for desired careers, hence the need for Ribara,” she said, adding that while it takes minutes, days or weeks for industry needs and demands to change, it takes a minimum of three years to update a university curriculum.

“Hence, Ribara Premium provides subscribing institutions and instructors curriculum intelligence to keep up with industry changes and provide relevant learning content,” added Peter.

The network also held a virtual tech and engineering internship conference titled ‘Discover and Get Discovered Tech and Engineering 2023 Internship’, when participants had the opportunity to connect with experts at Microsoft, Google, Meta, Chevron, Enbridge pipelines, Coca-Cola, Boston Consulting Group, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, NSTAR technologies. They spoke on securing career opportunities at Fortune 500 organisations.

The Chief Operations Officer of NSTAR Technologies, Somtochukwu Ihenacho described the value of conferences and tools like Ribara as unquantifiable because there.is a melting pot of curriculum intelligence, professionals, and experts who share their wins and lessons learned so that emerging talents can skip those mistakes and fast-track their success into great organisations.