When are you going back to school?

“I went back to school to master Internet governance, which is my specialisation,” Mercy Mutemi, a technology lawyer, told Sunday Nation on October 29.

Ms Mutemi has just been picked by ‘Time’ as one of the 100 people to watch across the world in the magazine’s annual Time100 Next, an index that recognises emerging leaders in various sectors.

For Ms Mutemi, the publication noticed her for taking on giants in the tech sector including the Government of Kenya on its plan to launch a service identity card known as Huduma Namba.

She is also wrestling with the owners of Facebook on how some of its content moderators working in Kenya through a company called Sama were shown the door.

Admitted to the Bar about seven years ago in Kenya, the lawyer says she has “always” had a passion for understanding the digital world.

But having a liking isn’t enough; it is what you do with that energy and inner push that matters since you can use it to climb ladders that previously looked intimidating.

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According to Yuval Noah Harari, the author of ‘Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow’ , disruptions have become everyday-like that what people learn become irrelevant within a  twinkle of an eye.

Harari says in an interview with Timothy Ferriss in his book, ‘Tribe of Mentors’: “It is likely that most of what you currently learn at school will be irrelevant by the time you are 40”.

She says the formula people need in this “hectic world” is the “ability to learn all the time and to reinvent themselves repeatedly — even at age 60”.

What explains it better is the constellation of courses at certificate, diploma, bachelor’s, master’s and PhD levels.

Apart from the academic programmes, there are professional courses that, across the world, are offered by top schools and the chartered study plans in marketing, accounting, public relations, marketing communications, and procurement.

Professional associations are also running continuous professional development (CPDs) programmes that are designed to keep the membership in check. You lag and you could lose your membership.

While going back to school is indisputable, it is desirable to watch out for unscrupulous trainers who target minting cash from the hungry brigade of professionals and other people advancing their studies.

In the early 2000s, going back to school became the fashion in Kenya and bad universities used the window to expand beyond their reach, making the half-baking accusation a reality.

Universities rented rooftop spaces to offer poorly designed postgraduate courses, including PhD, that a former Education minister–George Magoha– faulted, saying only 10 percent of the students and graduates could be taken seriously in a world hungry for new things that make life better.

Nonetheless, some universities or departments have designed postgraduate courses so tightly that they insist on faculty members with industry experience at senior levels.

Some private universities in Kenya have acquitted themselves well in how they choose lecturers to teach courses such as MBA, public policy, engineering and journalism.

editor@aplain.co.ke