Scholars have defined career guidance as services intended to assist people of any age and at any point throughout their lives to make educational, training and occupational choices and to manage their careers. Career guidance helps people reflect on their ambitions, interests, qualifications and abilities. Failure to have career guidance has negatively impacted many students.
Many university students find themselves studying for the sake of learning, not doing what they are passionate about. Students say there is inadequate career guidance for tertiary students; some drop out of tertiary institutions after a year because they choose the wrong careers influenced by their parents and see their friends attending universities. Some university students show a lack of interest in their studies.
Some students say they never want to go to university but have no choice since their parents will dictate their pace. One young woman dropped out of university in her second year when she realised she was studying for the wrong degree. She says she was studying medicine because the subjects she passed allowed her to do so, but she never had a passion for medicine, instead, she was into arts.
Without adequate career guidance, Zimbabwean tertiary institutions train people to study for the sake of learning. The pain is felt by those from the work industries who have to work with people with no passion or interest in their work.
Parents are also advised not to pressure their children to go to universities because they have passed their Advanced Level; they should allow them room to decide what they want to do with their lives. The economy is already bad for people to do things they are not passionate about.