The mitigating effect of work-integrated learning on graduate employment in South Africa

Abstract

This article seeks to provide theoretical insight into supply and demand factors within higher education and how these relate to each other and to graduate unemployment within the South African context. Research was undertaken primarily to determine the graduate unemployment rate at a higher education institution in South Africa and secondly to ascertain whether work-integrated learning (WIL) had an effect on graduate unemployment. Statistical analysis revealed that the graduate unemployment rate at a certain higher education institution in 2011 was 46% while WIL reduced graduate unemployment. The unemployment rate for students who had had no WIL was 63%, whereas the unemployment rate for those who had complete WIL in the course of their higher education training decreased to 26%. Findings supporting the mitigating influence of WIL are a potentially valuable contribution to policy and practice in higher education.

Keywords:

• economic perspective
• demand for higher education
• input output analysis
• work-integrated learning
• graduate unemployment

Notes on Contributors

Dr Petronella Jonck is currently the Deputy Director of Research and Policy Development for the Department of Community Safety, Gauteng Provincial Government. Prior to this Dr. Jonck was a post-doctoral research fellow in the faculty of Management Sciences at the Central University of Technology, Free State from 2011 to April 2014. She completed her PhD in Psychology in 2010 at the University of the Free State and was one of the top 15% of academic achievers. Additionally, she has an honours degree in Industrial Psychology and has completed several subjects for a B.Com degree in Accounting. Her scholarly interests are interdisciplinary in nature subsuming human capital formation, socio-economic development and crime. Dr. Jonck's research outputs to date include 4 published papers in accredited journals, 5 articles accepted for publication in 2014 and several in the review process.