South African Graduates Research Articles

Developing an Entrepreneurship Training Framework for Graphic Design Students at the Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa

Entrepreneurship education has become increasingly important worldwide, including for graduates in South Africa. Like their counterparts in other emerging economies, South African graduates face challenges in starting their businesses. This study focused on Graphic Design graduates at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), who encountered difficulties in establishing their design businesses. The research aimed to develop an entrepreneurship education framework for the Integrated Communication Design (ICD) programme at Tshwane University of Technology. A qualitative method was used along with an interpretivism research philosophy to examine small and micrographic design businesses in Tshwane’s central business district. In this article, twelve participants were chosen through purposive sampling. Four main themes were revealed in this article namely, core entrepreneurial skills, curriculum challenges in practical education, challenges faced by graphic design graduates, and strategies for improving business performance. These findings informed the proposed framework for entrepreneurial education for Tshwane University of Technology. The study identified ten key challenges for graphic design graduates, such as a lack of contracts, mentorship, and financial support, difficulties in hiring skilled staff, limited business knowledge, reliance on government contracts, excessive subcontracting, brand recognition issues, cash flow problems, and corruption. The study concluded by emphasising the urgent need for a shift in graphic design education, particularly in South Africa. It is recommended that graphic design educational institutions and the government join hands in finding ways to sponsor these entrepreneurs financially and non-financially to make their transition into the corporate world as smooth as possible. Keywords: Curriculum, entrepreneurship education, graphic design, higher education, Integrated Communication Design (ICD), small business

The Role of the Writing Centre in Enhancing Student Employability a Case Study of a University in South Africa

In the quest of bridging the high graduate unemployment gap of South African graduates, universities introduced initiatives which sought to assist graduates gain the necessary working experience. South African graduates struggle to find sufficient employment due to lack of work experience. The peer-to-peer coaching led by senior students, who are postgraduate students, leads to the enhancement of graduate employability. Therefore, this paper sought to investigate the contribution of the writing centre in increasing the chances of employment for its consultants. In light of this, literature was consulted to reveal the role of the writing centre in promoting student employment. Unstructured interviews were conducted on fifteen (15) participants, who were identified through convenient sampling technique. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the collected data. The paper found that the programme equips students to be familiar with the working environment. The study further revealed that the writing centre office is under-capacitated financially. The study thus proposed that the programme must be financially supported by the university, Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and other external stakeholders to continue capacitating the development of students. The study, therefore, concluded that the writing centre office effectively promotes student employability and increases the working experience of writing centre consultants.

Entrepreneurship education to stimulate entrepreneurial mindset in chemistry students

Chemistry is a field of study that teaches students critical skills in producing day-to-day products ranging from detergents, cosmetics, energy components and supplies for treating water. The majority of chemistry students seek formal employment after completing their studies, which helps to explain the increased incidence of unemployed South African graduates. This occurrence is more apparent in the Eastern Cape where there are very few chemistry industries with such employment opportunities. However, having an entrepreneurial mindset can lead to students venturing into business during or after their studies. Student businesses not only benefit the student but the community with accessible personalized solutions to their problems, institutions with reputation, creating a circular economy and possibly employment of others. Hence, this study aims to evaluate whether the offered entrepreneurship education to chemistry students stimulates an entrepreneurial mindset. The paper employed the qualitative narrative literature review methodology and the connectivism learning theory to achieve the set aim. Explored themes in realizing the aim are graduate attributes, science-based entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial mindset. The key findings are that science-based entrepreneurship education lacks the embedment of fundamental chemistry that creates familiarity with the concept and subsequent relatability with the course content. The connectivism learning theory supports the link between familiarity and new learning opportunities whereby, in this case, an entrepreneurial mindset can be stimulated. The study proposes that entrepreneurship education for chemistry students must include chemistry-related case studies and a participatory practical approach as a co-curricula. The co-curricula aspect will involve opportunities to start a real business on campus during the semester in which the course is offered.

A systematic review of entrepreneurship education in higher education as panacea to unemployment reduction in South African graduates

This discursive study explores the attempt to create feasible job creations for young graduates from various higher education institutions across South Africa. A systematic review of various literature sources on the phenomenon argues that entrepreneurship education can create and develop in students creative and innovative, business initiatives, risk-taking, strategic business minds, appropriate decision-making, and opportunities in diverse entrepreneurship activities, after graduation. The integration of entrepreneurship education into higher education across South African Higher Education will boost national economic development. The existing Department of Higher Education's initiative of Entrepreneurship Development into the country's Higher Education requires assessment and repositioning for effective approaches that can actualize the objectives of the initiative. The study recommends the need for universities' managements to re-strategise and connect theory with practical, in diverse significant collaborations with various private businesses, government institutions, and Non-Governmental Organisations.

Employability Challenges Facing Vocal Art Graduates in South Africa: A Case Study of Tshwane University of Technology

Unemployment has emerged as a global phenomenon that brutally affects young people, irrespective of whether they have academic qualifications, but is more prevalent and predominant in semi-peripheral and peripheral countries. Like graduates from other emerging countries, South African graduates are experiencing unemployment. The issue of unemployment in the performing arts industry has become a matter of great concern. Vocal Art (hereafter VA) graduates are finding it increasingly challenging to find a bridge between university and the industry of their profession. This article reports on a study that explored the relevance of the Performing Arts (Vocal Art) curriculum at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), Pretoria, South Africa, to employment opportunities for its graduates. A qualitative research method was employed using approaches such as a review of scholarly writings and interviews with arts graduates, lecturers, employers, VA performers, and selected performing arts industry practitioners and leaders. The findings demonstrated that there are a high number of arts graduates battling to find employment which is partly attributable to a lack of specific skills not catered for in the present curriculum. The study identified these special and relevant skills crucial for the performing arts industry. The article concludes by affirming that the TUT curriculum has to be redesigned, restructured and aligned with the continuously changing performing arts industry.

Life at a Stop Sign: Narrative Plots of the Transition to Adulthood During Unemployment Among South African Graduates

Compared to older cohorts, emerging adults are more susceptible to unemployment as they enter the labor market. In the context of increasing higher education access, an unstable economic climate is leaving a growing number of South African graduates unemployed. After the exploration that is typically part of higher education, unemployment could influence emerging adult graduates’ ability to make adult commitments. The aim of the current study was to gain both a detailed and a holistic perception of the developmental impact of unemployment during the transition to adulthood. A sample of 12 participants were recruited to partake in individual interviews. A narrative analysis revealed six common plotlines of progression and regression as the participants approached the goals they had set to achieve as adults. The findings illustrate the inability to accomplish adult commitments as a contributing factor in explaining the decrease in subjective well-being associated with unemployment specific to emerging adults.

Graduate capabilities required of South African food science and technology students

AbstractSouth African societal stakeholders are in general not satisfied with the work preparedness of newly graduated food science and technology students. There is currently little local literature available that defines the graduate capabilities required of newly graduated food scientists and technologists in South Africa. Therefore, the outcomes of an empirical analysis conducted through stakeholder engagement to identify the required graduate capabilities of newly graduated students in food science and technology are reported in this article. A self‐developed questionnaire, administered as a web‐based survey, was used to conduct a needs analysis to identify the required graduate capabilities. The results of this study showed that the identified graduate capabilities composed of generic graduate attributes, including the related employability skills and characteristics of graduateness, the desirable personal attributes, and the foundational food science and technology knowledge, skills, and competencies required to be an effective food science and/or technology graduate that meets the expectations of stakeholders within the South African context. Comparison with the minimum educational requirements of international food science and technology organizations, including the Institute of Food Technologists 2018 “Standards and Essential Learning Outcomes,” showed considerable overlap with the required graduate capabilities identified in this study. However, it was also shown that within the South African context some additional skills and competencies in food science and technology are required from South African graduates and that existing curricula must be aligned to fully prepare students to be workplace ready.

Land and worship: a reading of paintings by two South African artists of Indian ancestry

This article, drawn from my doctoral study, focuses on the landscape paintings of two South African graduates of the former Indian institution, the University of Durban-Westville. The work is analysed through the lens of Hindu philosophy and Hindu ritualistic practice which views the earth as fundamental for survival and intrinsically linked to the cosmic order. This article presents the Hindu attachment to the land seen in the expansive imagery of Hindu deities located within serene landscapes resplendent in its attention to mythological and symbolic details. This attachment positions Hinduism as a guide to the exploration of the paintings. This article locates the work within the complex historical base of Indians in South Africa, and the impact it had on contemporary artists of Indian ancestry. While their art production addresses their conflating Indian/South Africanness, their paintings can be viewed as a veiled historiography of the Indian presence in South Africa.

Graduate unemployment in South Africa: social inequality reproduced

In this study, I examine the influence of demographic and educational characteristics of South African graduates on their employment/unemployment status. A sample of 1175 respondents who graduated between 2006 and 2012 completed an online survey. Using binary logistic regression, the strongest determinants of unemployment were the graduates’ race, their socio-economic status and their year of their graduation. Surprisingly, the graduates’ field of study, level of study, marks obtained and whether or not they had received career guidance at their higher education institution did not significantly influence their employment/unemployment status. Of the employed graduates, 27% reported that they consider themselves to be underemployed. The results show the strong influence structural factors have on determining employment prospects of graduates and question the extent to which higher education institutions and graduate employers reproduce social inequality through their graduate recruitment services and practices.

Graduate identity development in South Africa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the misunderstandings that hamper the graduate identity development process of black South African graduates in the first year of work. The authors introduce the role of an independent mediator in supporting identity development in a graduate development programme (GDP). The independent mediator mediates between graduate and manager when misunderstandings occur that inhibit the warranting process during professional identity development. Design/methodology/approach – In seeking to understand the graduate transition from student to professional, the authors used identity studies as the foundation from which to track a group of 21 graduates on a year-long GDP, in a financial institution in Johannesburg, South Africa. A model of emergent graduate identity was utilised to gain insight into the warranting process and associated behaviours that graduates employ in their interactions with others in the workplace. Findings – As warranting is based on people’s own assumptions and beliefs about a particular situation or role, misunderstandings can occur during the warranting process when graduates are determining their professional identity, and managers are either affirming of disaffirming this identity. These misunderstandings were exacerbated by the fact that the graduates were often South African multi-cultural, first-generation professionals who lacked insight into and experience of corporate dynamics, this impacted on how they found their place in the organisation. Both graduates and managers were often not equipped to deal with cultural, racial, and other differences. When the graduate programme manager stepped in to play the additional role of independent mediator, helping to mediate misinterpretations during the identity formation process, the negative impact of misunderstandings was lessened, and graduates transitioned to a professional identity with greater ease. Managers also learned about managing multi-cultural individuals and their own, often limiting, experiences and worldviews. Practical implications – This highlights the value of a third-party intervention in graduate identity transitions, particularly in contexts where the graduate has little or no experience of what it means to be professional, and where managers are not equipped to deal with people who come from backgrounds that differ vastly from their own. Originality/value – The role of a third-party in shaping the identities of graduates during the identity warranting process, referred to as the independent mediator in this paper, has not been presented in research before. Studies of this nature would give us insight into how best to support graduate identity development and improve the design of GDPs.

Graduate Entrepreneurial Intention in South Africa: Motivations and Obstacles

This study investigates the entrepreneurial intention of South African graduates as well as the motivators andobstacles to entrepreneurial intention. 701 students in their final year of study participated in the survey and datawas collected through self-administered questionnaires. The principal component analysis, T-test and descriptivestatistics were used for data analysis. The results indicate that the entrepreneurial intention of South Africanstudents is very weak. In addition, the study identified five motivators of entrepreneurial intention. These areemployment, autonomy, creativity, economic and capital. The obstacles to entrepreneurial intention of SouthAfrican graduates are capital, skill, support, risk, economy and crime. Recommendations to reduce the obstaclesto graduate entrepreneurship are suggested.

In the footsteps of Abraham Jacobi, an early international medical graduate: contributions of a single South African medical school to US pediatrics.

Abraham Jacobi is generally recognized as the father of pediatrics in the United States. He was born in Germany and graduated from the University of Bonn in 1851 at a time of political turmoil. He was jailed for 2 years for high treason as a result of his activities as a member of a democratic revolutionary group. He was advised to leave the country to escape additional prosecution. After a brief, unsuccessful attempt to set up a practice in England, he made his way to the United States in 1853 during a period when immigrants from Europe were being welcomed with open arms. He established a practice in the Bowery in New York City, which, at the time, housed a quarter of a million German immigrants and hundreds of thousands of others seeking opportunities in the land of the free. His practice grew by leaps and bounds, and he began translating abstracts of articles from Germany dealing with diseases of children as well as publishing in US journals. In 1859, he co-authored the textbook Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children. His 1860 appointment as Professor in Infantile Pathology and Therapeutics at New York Medical College was one of the first, if not the first, such academic appointment in pediatrics in the United States. In recognition of his clinical skills, his dynamic bedside teaching, and his contributions to the scientific literature, he was offered and accepted a professorial appointment at Columbia in 1870. However, he had to wait 18 years before he was granted faculty voting privileges. Jacobi’s Therapeutics of Infancy and Children was first published in 1895. He remained at Columbia until his death in 1919, having served as president of both the American Pediatric Society (APS) and the American Medical Association.1–3 As the first international … Reprint requests to (G.S.G.) Emeritus Staff Office, Plummer 10, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905. E-mail: gilchrist-gerald{at}msn.com