scholarly journals Scarce skills expatriates in South African universities: Rhetoric and realities of the “Messianic” academics

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mokoko Sebola
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
South African ◽  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Monitoring Tool ◽  
Monitoring Instrument ◽  
Skills Shortage ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
A Performance

This article investigates the reason for the continued scarce skills shortage, despite the recruitment of expatriates in academic institutions as an intervention measure. It argues that while the Human Resources Departments in South African universities motivate for the appointment of expatriates in the development of scarce skills, little monitoring is done to determine the effectiveness of this objective and, often, no performance instrument exists for such personnel. As such, the scarce skills to be developed continue to be wanting in the country. This article is conceptual and uses literature to argue about the hypothetical relation between the lack of a monitoring tool for expatriates and the continued scarce skills problems that universities cannot address. It concludes that the continued lack of a performance-monitoring instrument in South African universities for contracted expatriates will not solve the skills shortage problem experienced in South Africa.

Youth high unemployment/unemployability in South Africa: the unemployed graduates' perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zethembe Mseleku
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cooperative Effort ◽  
Content Type ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
Skills Mismatch ◽  
Graduate Unemployment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore youth graduate unemployment and unemployability as a development problem in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThis exploratory study applied a qualitative research method to elicit the perspectives of youth graduates regarding their unemployment and unemployability. A total of 30 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with unemployed youth who recently graduated from five South African universities.FindingsThe results indicate that, as youth graduate unemployment increases in South Africa, graduates become hopeless in terms of securing employment. The participants attributed their unemployment to multidimensional factors that include limited demand in the labour market, skills mismatch and lack of work experience.Research limitations/implicationsThis research exclusively focused on graduates from five South African universities; hence, the results of this small qualitative study cannot be generalised to the entire South African population. However, this paper offers important insights that may form the foundation for a nationwide study on a related topic.Originality/valueThis paper presents important insights that influence policy makers, government and other relevant stakeholders to develop alternative solutions to youth graduate unemployment. This paper recommends that government should play a critical role in bridging the gap between higher education and industry in order to address youth graduate unemployment. It also calls for a more cooperative effort between government, higher learning institutions and employers in order to create job opportunities for youth graduates in South Africa.

SOUTH AFRICA’S ENDURING COLONIAL NATURE AND UNIVERSITIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann Rossouw
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
State Power ◽  
Pattern Language ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
South African Universities

This article focuses on the question of South African decolonisation with particular reference to the Afrikaners as both the colonised and the coloniser. It is argued that Afrikaners winning state power in 1948 became something of an ironicblueprint for African post-colonial countries — nominally independent and free, but in reality still colonies. The enduring colonial characteristics of South Africa are briefly discussed, and how Afrikaner- and African nationalists in power turnedout to be variations of a post-colonial pattern. Language is discussed as a focal point of this pattern since 1948, also with regards to the 2015 student revolts at South African universities. In conclusion some proposals are offered about whatdecolonisation should be, and what universities can contribute to it.

Language Policy Execution

2020 ◽  
pp. 579-614
Author(s):  
Paul Hendry Nkuna
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
South African ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Public Institution ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Republic

South Africa is a multilingual country with 11 official languages. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, provides that every learner may use the official language of his or her choice in any public institution of the country. The Language Policy for Higher Education (Ministry of Education, 2002) requires all South African universities to develop and execute language policies. This chapter focuses on language policy execution by South African universities. The emphasis is on the execution of language policy in relation to the promotion and development of the nine official indigenous languages, namely isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.

scholarly journals Reimagining pedagogy for theological education at a South African University: An ethnographic exploration

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindie Denny ◽  
Cas Wepener
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Theological Education ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Curriculum Transformation

Curriculum transformation within Higher Education has been an ongoing process within South Africa Universities. For a long time, apartheid and the conception of race have shaped the education framework. Recently, decolonisation discourses have led to a rethinking about Curricula of Higher Education. Theological Education has been highlighted, as theological faculties within Universities perpetuate European epistemologies. In order to contribute towards curriculum transformation in South Africa, pedagogy for theological education within South African Universities is explored in this article, and a new praxis theory for a reimagined pedagogy is presented. This article presents only part of the research conducted within a South African University. A description and analysis of the empirical research are provided together with a reimagined pedagogy for theological education at a South African University.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The research was performed within the field of Practical Theology with a special focus on pedagogy; however, inter-disciplinary insights were gained from fields such as Education and History, and on an intra-disciplinary level, the research used qualitative methods from Cultural Anthropology and Rituals Studies to empirically study pedagogy as a practice.

scholarly journals Reconceptualising undergraduate entrepreneurship education at traditional South African universities

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manduth Ramchander
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Postgraduate Level ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Start Ups

Orientation: The relatively high number of unemployed graduates in South Africa is a major cause for concern. Entrepreneurial start-ups have been heralded as the panacea to the unemployment challenge.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to ascertain how entrepreneurship education, at traditional South African universities, measured against existing entrepreneurship education frameworks.Motivation for the study: Despite a plethora of entrepreneurship education initiatives, the South African higher education system fails to produce sufficient entrepreneurs; hence, the need to explore how entrepreneurship education is structured.Research design, approach and method: The research design was exploratory and both quantitative and qualitative in nature. The population comprised the eleven traditional universities in South Africa and all of them were included in the study. Secondary data was obtained from the respective universities’ websites. The search sequence in the websites were as follows: Faculty of commerce/Management Sciences, Year/handbook, undergraduate/postgraduate programmes. The word ‘entrepreneurship’ was also used as a keyword to search within the university website.Main findings: The findings revealed some entrepreneurship modules, with low total credit value in relation to total programme credit value, at the undergraduate level and specialisation at the postgraduate level with some form of centre or incubator initiatives. It was also found that little attention is given to the development of entrepreneurial skills such as perseverance, resilience and self-efficacy.Practical/managerial implications: The significance of this article lies in its potential to guide the reconceptualisation of entrepreneurship education at South African universities.Contribution/value-add: This study integrates an existing framework and model to reconceptualise the undergraduate entrepreneurship programme. The reconceptualised structure entails a programme where modules from other disciplines are integrated into an entrepreneurship programme as opposed to the current structure where entrepreneurship modules are integrated into other career-focussed programmes.

scholarly journals Nine drivers of knowledge transfer between universities and industry R&D partners in South Africa

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Van Zyl ◽  
J. Amadi-Echendu ◽  
T. J.D. Bothma
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
South African ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Technology Commercialization ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Geographic Proximity ◽  
University Departments ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
The Right

This article presents part of the findings of the Research Marketing and Technology Commercialization Survey conducted in South Africa during 2005 and 2006. Part IV (Q4) of this survey was designed to examine nine drivers of knowledge transfer between South African universities in their research and development (R&D) collaborations with industry firms. Respondents from a judgemental sample ranked the knowledge transfer for R&D collaboration between university departments and industry as: (a) the need to extract appropriate knowledge at the right time to make critical decisions; (b) the perception that knowledge is a valuable resource; (c) the emphasis on getting a return on investment in research; (d) the need to protect knowledge for competitive advantage; (e) the need to close the knowledge gap; (f) international trade; (g) the need to protect intellectual property such as patents and trademarks; (h) geographic proximity between the knowledge source and recipient; and (i) war, terrorism and natural disasters.

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