scholarly journals Bridging the gap between technical and social competencies of urban and regional planning through mobile technology: The case of Cape Peninsula University of Technology

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Pinfold ◽  
Masilonyane Mokhele
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Regional Planning ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Social Competencies ◽  
Urban And Regional Planning ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Cape Peninsula

Higher education institutions are entrusted with the responsibility of training future workforces that are well equipped to function in the age of the 4th industrial revolution (4IR). This role is pertinent in light of growing concerns that with the advent of 4IR, mobile technology and robotics would take over certain roles that are currently performed by humans. Using the case of Goedverwacht community service-learning project in the Western Cape province of South Africa, this paper demonstrates ways in which mobile technology is embraced and applied in urban and regional planning education at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The purpose of the service-learning collaboration between the Goedverwacht community and CPUT was to produce a spatial map depicting property boundaries so that the community could, amongst others, be ready for the imminent land tenure reform processes. With the input and guidance of community members, the map was compiled through the use of mobile and allied technology, including global positioning system-enabled smartphones, drones and mobile geographic information system.

scholarly journals Foundation for transdisciplinary education at Cape Peninsula University of Technology

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masilonyane Mokhele ◽  
Nicholas Pinfold
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Cape Peninsula ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Societal Problems ◽  
South African Higher Education

South Africa faces a multitude of social, economic and environmental challenges, which require well-considered planning efforts. However, the efficacy of the built environment professions to adequately plan for the current and future populations can to some extent be questioned. Factors that are arguably responsible for the failure of the professions to achieve the desired outcomes include the following: (1) the inability of professionals to comprehensively analyse community problems and (2) although the various professions might work on the same issues, they largely fail to transcend disciplinary boundaries. This state of affairs can in part be linked to the role of higher education, which is in a good position to equip future professionals with the skills required for the analysis of diverse societal problems. In spite of the importance of education and training, there is a paucity of literature that explore ways in which the South African higher education sector instils transdisciplinary thinking and, accordingly, imparts the requisite soft skills to students. Using the case study of Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, the aim of this article was to present efforts that are pursued towards instilling transdisciplinarity in students. The efforts revolve around community service-learning pedagogy, which grants students a platform to work in close collaboration with communities. In the process, students and community members develop an in-depth understanding of the community’s problems and how they could be collectively resolved.

The employability of human resources management graduates from a selected university of technology in the Western Cape, South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-266
Author(s):  
Larry Enoch Jowah ◽  
Tendency Beretu
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Human Resources Management ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quantitative Research Methods ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Cape Peninsula

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the need to provide an industry-relevant curricula to higher learning institutions, which addresses the needs of the industries so that unemployment is addressed.Design/methodology/approachThe researcher sought to look for a cause and consequence relationship, which resulted in the usage of a mixed-methods approach whereby both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Correspondingly, the study was conducted in two phases, literature analysis and experimental study, including field work.FindingsThe paper provides experiential visions about how institutions of higher learning can provide industry-relevant education. It proposes that for graduates to be employable, there should be synergy between what industries want and what the institutions of higher learning are providing, hence the need to redesign the curricula.Research limitations/implicationsThe research focused exclusively on Cape Peninsula University of Technology HR graduates from 2014 to 2017 instead of considering all graduates of HR in the workplaces in Cape Metropolis.Practical implicationsTertiary institutions as the custodians of knowledge will have to go out to the customers (recipients of their products) and inquire for relevant operational requirements.Social implicationsHR graduates will be properly empowered through proper industry-relevant curriculum which enables them to be employable or to create employment instead of waiting to be employed.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills a recognized need to study how the curriculum offered by universities contributes to the employability of human resources management graduates.

The value of graduate destination survey data in understanding graduate unemployment: A focus on the universities of technology

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-113
Author(s):  
Andre Kraak
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Accurate Picture ◽  
Cape Peninsula ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
Graduate Unemployment

This article contributes graduate destination survey (GDS) evidence to the debate about graduate unemployment in South Africa. There has been lively contestation on the topic for several years, including several contributions from the commercial press arguing that graduate unemployment is very high. In contrast, academic evidence (based on national labour force data for the period 1995–2011) has been presented suggesting that the unemployment of graduates in South Africa is minimal, on average only 4.9% in 2011. New evidence has emerged from two recent GDSs – one comprehensive survey of all 2010 graduates across all qualification levels at all four universities in the Western Cape, and a second focusing only on the 2012 Bachelor of Technology (BTech) graduates at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng. These two studies, using the same methodology and online questionnaire, provide a more accurate picture of the graduate unemployment problem in two important economic regions of the country. The results show that although rates of unemployment are low at the elite University of Cape Town (UCT) and Stellenbosch University (SU) (graduate unemployment is between 3 and 6%), rates are much higher at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) – a former historically disadvantaged technikon – with 15.8% unemployment among CPUT students. African unemployment at CPUT reached 20.2% among all first-time entrants (as compared with 4% for whites), suggesting the continuation of a racially stratified labour market for highly skilled labour long after apartheid’s demise. Similarly, unemployment rates among the BTech VUT graduates of 2012 reached 18%. This is an extremely high rate for fourth-year graduates of a polytechnic-type institution whose primary mandate is to place qualified graduates in jobs in the mainstream economy.

scholarly journals Transdisciplinary service-learning for construction management and quantity surveying students

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura F. Pinfold
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Construction Management ◽  
Cooperative Interaction ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Cape Peninsula ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Quantity Surveying ◽  
The Way

The transformation of higher education in South Africa has seen higher education institutions become more responsive to community matters by providing institutional support for service-learning projects. Despite service-learning being practised in many departments at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), there is a significant difference in the way service-learning is perceived by academics and the way in which it should be supported within the curriculum. This article reflects on a collaborative transdisciplinary service-learning project at CPUT that included the Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. The aim of the transdisciplinary service-learning project was for students to participate in an asset-mapping exercise in a rural communal settlement in the Bergrivier municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. In so doing students from the two departments were gradually inducted into the community. Once inducted, students were able to identify the community’s most urgent needs. During community engagement students from each department were paired together. This allowed transdisciplinary learning to happen with the exploration of ideas from the perspectives of both engineering and urban planning students. Students were able to construct meaning beyond their discipline. Cooperation and synergy between the departments allowed mutual, interchangeable, cooperative interaction with community members. Outcomes for the transdisciplinary service-learning project and the required commitment from students are discussed.

Planning in Europe: Urban and Regional Planning in the EEC

1984 ◽  
Vol 150 (3) ◽  
pp. 379
Author(s):  
Hugh Clout ◽  
R. H. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Regional Planning ◽  
Urban And Regional Planning

The Local Regulation of Climate Change

2012 ◽  
pp. 454-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Deshazo ◽  
Juan Matute
Keyword(s):  
Regional Planning ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Measurement Methods ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Local Effects ◽  
Local Regulation ◽  
Urban And Regional Planning ◽  
Policy Effects

This article discusses the importance of measuring the greenhouse gas (GHG) effects of urban and regional planning and policy in order to develop and implement policies to reduce GHG emissions. It argues that existing local government GHG measurement methods fail to support the local governments in their evaluation of policy design and the GHG reductions resulting from their policies. The article highlights the need for a large amount of observational data, from different locations and different times, as well as for control variables in order to disentangle local policy effects from nonpolicy and extra-local effects.

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