South African specific complexities in aligning graduate attributes to employability

Abstract

South African higher education (HE) cannot be compared to any other country’s HE systems due to the unique political landscape and structural narrative that it has undergone. Subsequent to the reorganisation of HEIs in 2004, a number of complexities arose. These included accessibility to education across race and the alignment of the South African HEIs to global pedagogic benchmarks. With the changing political landscape, transformations within higher education, socio economic inequities and changes in the workplace, researchers failed to cognize the impact of these factors on graduate employability. Changing graduate attributes to align with a decolonised curriculum and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) workspaces were transiently underway when COVID-19 set a new narrative for the future of employability. This paper seeks to identify the impact of workplace changes and its direct influence on successful graduate employment and integration into the HE curriculum. The work environment has cursorily moved from 4IR to an advanced stage of the 4IR, where there is a full emphasis on digitisation, non-localised workspaces and is an ostensible playground for digital natives (Generation Z). This paper provides a systematic review of literature in the South African HE contexts that pertains to graduate attributes for employability within the workplace. The adoption of malleable secondary data will allow for an understanding of the relationship between changing workplace environments and expectations from graduates. This correlation is directly linked to graduate attributes which students need to comply with from year one. The paper will provide context to changes which are required for the future success of graduates, and whether graduate attributes are adequate preparation for employability. A clinical model is recommended with an intervention to manage the risk factors of decolonisation of curriculum, the 4IR and multi-generational workplace and responses to COVID-19.

Black Girl Magic or Queen Bee: An Exploration of Gendered Leadership in South African Business

“…Based on the lineage and principles of black women, they would inherently exhibit a blend of feminine leadership values and African leadership values in the workplace, bringing a culture of maternal kindness, a human-centric approach similar to the constructs often explicated by Pat Wadors (former LinkedIn CHRO) (Weiner, 2019). The global business world has transformed significantly with the fourth industrial revolution technologies and a multi-generational workplace (Ramnund-Mansingh & Reddy, 2021). The work ethics of the Millennials and the Digital Natives are congruent with feminine values such as inclusivity and humility and further aligned with African leadership, whose values include diversity and integrity.…”

Conceptualizing Graduates Attributes (GAs) in English Language Teacher Education Programs in Oman During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Employers’ decisions to hire graduates are not only based on the knowledge they possess but also on their practical competencies. Employers prefer graduates with practical and 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication (Mansingh & Reddy, 2021; Scott & Willison, 2021). Furthermore, Atef and Al Balushi (2017) in their study found that establishing GAs is important for students in boosting their awareness and understanding of the wide range of potential job opportunities.…”

“…The focus on education policies and curriculum studies has shifted from the content of education to its outcome; as a result, the students have become a college’s product (El-Saharty et al, 2020; Mansingh & Reddy, 2021; Matu & Paik, 2021; Scott & Willison, 2021). Consequently, institutions are now practically mandated by quality assurance authorities to fine-tune their processes and operations (the means) in light of their desired output (the end), which is none other than their graduates (Scott & Willison, 2021).…”

“…No doubt including GAs as an integral part of Higher Education (HE) has the potential to prepare graduates to acquire the necessary personal and professional skills needed for employment. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have accepted and responded to this expectation both by defining a list of desired GAs and requiring that these be embedded in their programs (Al Hinai et al, 2020; Belwal et al, 2017; Bitzer & Withering, 2020; Gurukkal, 2019; Hill et al, 2016; Mansingh & Reddy, 2021; Wong et al, 2021). This development has given rise to several issues concerning the conceptualization, teaching, and assessment of GAs, for instance, questions about the efficiency of GAs to accommodate global changes.…”

“…This implies that to eliminate the skills gap between the HEIs’ educational output (graduates) and the labor market’s expectations, research should be conducted into how stakeholders from both sides (higher education and the labor market) conceptualize GAs and the challenges HEIs encounter while seeking to establish and implement them. Furthermore, given the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges must play an effective role in assisting graduates in acquiring the new professional requirements and adapting the curricula to better prepare their graduates for the challenges of changing industries accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Mansingh & Reddy, 2021; Memon et al, 2021; Miani et al, 2021)…”