Is Simon Roodhouse (2010: 25) remark cynical when he observes that a job-seeker’s understanding of the discipline or subject—which is a primary aim of university education—has little relevance to employability? What has relevance, however—citing Brown, Hesketh and Williams (2003), is on fulfilling the requirements of the specific job and “how one stands relative to others within a hierarchy of job seekers”. The latter in the current post-Apartheid South African context is further influenced by organisational corrective strategies with regard to the racial and gender mix of employees within departments.
Roodhouse (2010: 25) does add that higher education’s success in developing and delivering entry-to-work programmes is not doubted, neither higher education’s ability to qualifying people for work at higher levels doubted.
Roodhouse, S. 2010. Defining and theorizing university work-based learning (pp 21-27). In S Roodhouse & J Mumford. 2010. Understanding work-based learning. Surrey: Gower.
Brown, P.; Hesketh, A. & Williams, S. 2003. Employability in a Knowledge Driven Economy. Journal of Education and Work, 16(2), pp 107-126.
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