Developing employability: an evaluation of the World of Work Training and Internship Programmes at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Date
2012-01-10
Authors
Emanuel, Lesley
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Abstract
Human Sciences’ training is consistently criticized for a lack of application to the world of work.
Industry is skeptical about the value of human science training in terms of direct economic or
political benefit and the result is often unemployment, or precarious career prospects for
Humanities and Social Sciences students. The case is worse for those Humanities and Social
Science students who will graduate from academic programmes that are not specifically oriented
to meet the needs of an industry or profession.
The World of Work Training and Internship Programmes at the Graduate School (now the
Graduate Centre) at the University of the Witwatersrand aimed to address this problem through a
non-academic intervention. Although the integration of internships into academic programmes is
often positioned in the available literature as the ideal in order to optimize learning, the World of
Work Programmes were unique in that they were designed as an “add-on” intervention to address
the development of Humanities students’ employability, after completion of their postgraduate
degrees. Literature on employability does not does address employability or the employability
skills development of those who do not have a professional outcome ‘built in’ to their academic
learning process, let alone the needs and challenges of postgraduate Humanities and Social
Science students in particular.
The World of Work Programmes consisted of two components. The duration of the Training
Programme, which took place at the University, was approximately one month. Thereafter,
internships (three months) were arranged for participants at various relevant organisations. Interns
were closely monitored and mentored by World of Work staff and by a representative from the
host organisation. The World of Work Training and Internship Programmes started in 2001 and
the last programmes occurred in 2008.
The purpose of this doctoral research is to evaluate the World of Work Training and Internship
Programmes and their contribution to the development of employability.
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The evaluation is focused on two key years of the programmes, 2005 and 2006. It includes
consideration of the challenges postgraduate Humanities students encounter as they make the
transition from academia to the workplace, and how the World of Work Programmes help them
manage any difficulties they may have. It also investigates pedagogical approaches for increasing
these students’ employability, and how the postgraduate Humanities student’s transition into an
organisation impacts on his/her employability development.
One of the key findings from the World of Work Programmes’ evaluation was that the multiple
roles of mentorship are crucial for students’ successful transitions into workplaces. The unique
partnership in the World of Work Programmes’ of the University-based mentor with a workplace
supervisor proved to be a compelling subject for further exploration in the final chapter.
In 2005, the practise of weblogging was introduced into the World of Work Programmes’
curriculum. There were various aims motivating the introduction of this learning tool, including
facilitating learning through reflection, while at the same time improving awareness of, and
attitudes towards Humanities and Social Science postgraduate students. We hoped, in this way, to
market the potential of Humanities students and their relevance in the workplace. Findings related
to these objectives, and also unexpected results from this e-learning project such as the
development of a community of practice and how the weblogs provided a sense of Humanities
students “in action”, has prompted its inclusion in the final chapter as a significant contribution –
especially since there is no literature available on the capacity of weblogs to assist with the
development and demonstration of employability specifically.
An evaluation of any possible contributions to employability development as a result of such
innovations in the World of Work Programmes may be useful for the pedagogical and curricular design of similar programmes.
Description
Ph.D. Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011