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Student perspectives on employability development in higher education in South Africa

Oluyomi Susan Pitan (School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, College of Law and Management Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa)
Colette Muller (School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, College of Law and Management Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa)

Education + Training

ISSN: 0040-0912

Article publication date: 4 June 2020

Issue publication date: 4 June 2020

1900

Abstract

Purpose

This study responds to identified challenges of poor work-readiness of many graduates and the inadequate relation between education and work. Through students' perspectives, the study examines the extent to which selected South African universities are supporting their students in developing employability skills and the influence of such employability support on students' enhanced employability.

Design/methodology/approach

Through purposive sampling, information was obtained from a sample of 402 final year students at two universities in South Africa. After an exploratory factor analysis, 34 of the 35 items on the questionnaire successfully loaded for further analysis under seven components.

Findings

South African universities that were analysed are adequately engaging their students with two of the six employability development opportunities (EDOs), while students' engagement with the other four is only to a fair extent. EDOs are found to jointly influence students' employability. The curriculum has the highest influence, followed by personal development planning, career development learning and work experience. Real-world activities and extracurricular activities were not found to influence students' self-perceived employability.

Originality/value

Beyond identifying skills that graduates are expected to possess, which dominate the discussion and debate on graduate employability, this study elucidates the role of universities in providing support structures – EDOs – that enable students to establish an appropriate connection between theory and practice. It provides insight into the employability potential of South African universities and increases the universities' awareness of what they can do to ensure the production of work-ready graduates.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge all the final year students who volunteered as samples for the study and all the postgraduate students who assisted in the collection of data. Special thanks to all the lecturers in the sampled universities who consented to and assisted in the administration of data instrument during their lecture periods. We also thank all the anonymous reviewers for critically reading our manuscript and for their many insightful comments and suggestions.

Citation

Pitan, O.S. and Muller, C. (2020), "Student perspectives on employability development in higher education in South Africa", Education + Training, Vol. 63 No. 3, pp. 453-471. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-02-2018-0039

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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