Thesis (MPA.) -- University of LImpopo, 2017 / The Internship programme has been used by many governments and employers throughout the world to integrate academic theory learnt at schools and Universities and practiced in the workplace. The South African government introduced the Public Service Internship Programme(PSIP) in 2002, and one of its objectives was to reduce the high rate of graduates who are unemployable by appointing them as graduate interns for a period of 12 months, thus providing them with the public service skills and experience required by the Public Service in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to investigate the implementation of the Public Service Internship Programme with regards to its contribution to the employability of graduates: The case of the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment, and Tourism in the Republic of South Africa. The study used the qualitative research method to interview 80 respondents ranging from Executive Management, Senior Management, Middle Management, Junior Management, Operational employees, Mentors and Graduate Interns to solicit their views and understanding on the implementation of the Public Service Internship Programme within the department. The study used content analysis to analyse data obtained from the 80 research respondents. The analysis was made using themes in line with thematic content analysis. The research findings confirmed that Graduate Interns are obtaining the necessary and relevant skills that will make them employable after completing the PSIP. The PSIP imparts Graduate Interns with skills that contribute to their employability in both the public and private sectors. It instils confidence and provides exposure and experience to Graduates Interns to have competitive advantages during job interviews in the public service and the private sector. It is a very useful programme that must be supported and encouraged in the public service as it assisted many to get jobs and reduce the rate of graduate unemployment in South Africa. It is relevant, useful and necessary to deal with the unemployment of graduates. It is successful and must be promoted because most Graduate Interns are employable during and after the completion of the programme. The study made the following recommendations; That all stakeholders must be inducted on PSIP to ensure its successful implementation, mentors must be trained on mentoring and coaching prior to their appointment, Mentoring vi be linked to the key result areas and key performance indicators of employees for it to be recognised in terms of the Performance Management and Development System, PSIP must be monitored and evaluated like all other government programmes, that the assignment of duties to graduates must be in line with their qualifications and their careers, graduate interns should be allowed to attend departmental meetings and functions as part of their learning areas, that those interning on the departmental Human Resources Management and Development be granted access to the PERSAL system as it is an important system in the South African Public Service, exit interviews must be conducted to get feedback from the interns on the implementation of the programme, and that proper allocation of offices or work spaces must be done by the department to enhance and improve the working conditions of the Graduate Interns .

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / In developing countries like South Africa, a skills shortage is already one of the most important problems of the twenty-first century. Consequently, South African public institutions have adopted an internship programme to enhance skills development, knowledge and experience, concentrating on a particular population. An internship, as established by the South African Cabinet in December 2002, is a graduate work experience programme aimed at unemployed graduates aged 18 to 35. Therefore, the study assessed the impact of the internship programme on skills development in selected government departments in Limpopo Province. Secondary to the aim, the study explored the nature of internship programme and skills development in public institutions. It also evaluated the link between an internship programme and skills development and concluded by highlighting challenges and opportunities for an internship programme. The researcher used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, with semi-structured questionnaires for current and previous interns, to achieve the study's goals. Face to face interviewing method was used to collect data from public officials in the three selected government departments in Limpopo Province - Department of Education (DOE), Provincial Treasury, and Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. Although public institutions are regarded as hosts of internship programme, pitfalls associated with the internship programme in the South African public institutions persist. The study found, to a large extend, a huge impact of internship programme on skills development in the three selected government departments in Limpopo Province. The study further established that not all participants were clear with the job description of the internship programme. The imprecise job description could confuse interns as they would not know their expected daily performance in government departments. The study argues that such may result in displacement and a lack of sense of belonging among interns within their respective government departments. / (Services SETA)

In this thesis, I seek to analyse the reproduction of elite mobilities through participation in Study Internship Programmes (SIP) in Washington D.C. SIPs are programmes for both American as well as international students that come to Washington and participate in a programme that combines an academic track on specific topics with an internship. These programmes can be seen as exemplars of a specialised form of neoliberal education in which middle-class students attempt to acquire mobility capital in the hope of accelerating their future careers. With the help of in-depth interviews and ethnographic methods, I have gathered data about the SIPs which were analysed via textual analysis. I conducted interviews with SIP-alumni, with current SIP-students as well as stakeholders in these programmes. As a theoretical framework, I have utilised a mobilities perspective, along with ideas on individualisation and cosmopolitan capital to develop a framework for study-internship research. I argue that students go to Washington to acquire mobility and cosmopolitan capital, as this might offer a competitive edge. I explore how SIPs affect and transform its participants, their career paths and mobilities, as well as the city of Washington D.C itself as a place. My research showcases the layered identities of the participants through their mobilities, and how their mobilities are connected to the city of Washington D.C., and the key institutions involved. The research also demonstrates that SIPs are indicative of broader career patterns and mobility decision-making among young people in the West. Furthermore, my research indicates how integral the images of Washington D.C. and career-narratives are to the reproduction of elites and to Washington D.C.'s image of power for the SIP-participants to represent their success and aspirations.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of LImpopo, 2017 / The Internship programme has been used by many governments and employers throughout the world to integrate academic theory learnt at schools and Universities and practiced in the workplace. The South African government introduced the Public Service Internship Programme(PSIP) in 2002, and one of its objectives was to reduce the high rate of graduates who are unemployable by appointing them as graduate interns for a period of 12 months, thus providing them with the public service skills and experience required by the Public Service in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to investigate the implementation of the Public Service Internship Programme with regards to its contribution to the employability of graduates: The case of the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment, and Tourism in the Republic of South Africa. The study used the qualitative research method to interview 80 respondents ranging from Executive Management, Senior Management, Middle Management, Junior Management, Operational employees, Mentors and Graduate Interns to solicit their views and understanding on the implementation of the Public Service Internship Programme within the department. The study used content analysis to analyse data obtained from the 80 research respondents. The analysis was made using themes in line with thematic content analysis. The research findings confirmed that Graduate Interns are obtaining the necessary and relevant skills that will make them employable after completing the PSIP. The PSIP imparts Graduate Interns with skills that contribute to their employability in both the public and private sectors. It instils confidence and provides exposure and experience to Graduates Interns to have competitive advantages during job interviews in the public service and the private sector. It is a very useful programme that must be supported and encouraged in the public service as it assisted many to get jobs and reduce the rate of graduate unemployment in South Africa. It is relevant, useful and necessary to deal with the unemployment of graduates. It is successful and must be promoted because most Graduate Interns are employable during and after the completion of the programme. The study made the following recommendations; That all stakeholders must be inducted on PSIP to ensure its successful implementation, mentors must be trained on mentoring and coaching prior to their appointment, Mentoring vi be linked to the key result areas and key performance indicators of employees for it to be recognised in terms of the Performance Management and Development System, PSIP must be monitored and evaluated like all other government programmes, that the assignment of duties to graduates must be in line with their qualifications and their careers, graduate interns should be allowed to attend departmental meetings and functions as part of their learning areas, that those interning on the departmental Human Resources Management and Development be granted access to the PERSAL system as it is an important system in the South African Public Service, exit interviews must be conducted to get feedback from the interns on the implementation of the programme, and that proper allocation of offices or work spaces must be done by the department to enhance and improve the working conditions of the Graduate Interns

The aim of this descriptive and evaluative research study is to assess the impact achieved by the DBSA/ SALGA ICT Internship Programme, a national local government internship programme that was undertaken by South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) Development Fund in partnership with the South African Communication Forum (SACF), Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) and SIEMENS Ltd Training Institute.A supply-side internship programme in nature, its strategic objectives were to train and equip young South Africans with ICT skills, give youth learners workplace experience in the ICT functional area within their respective municipalities, create employment opportunities for youth and economic development for local municipalities in alleviation of scarce-critical ICT skills to capacitate the local government sector.Forty (x40) learners from Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges were recruited from various rural municipalities to undertake ICT training with SIEMENS Training Institute and given workplace experiential learning with fifteen x15 host municipalities under the banner of the South African Local Government Association. This descriptive and evaluative study is undertaken in a case study format with particular interest in the retention levels of graduate learners endowed with scarce skills in the context of the skills challenges facing the local government sector. The study also focuses on unique challenges and interventional measures that could be undertaken by designers of public education and training programmes to ensure efficiency of internship programmes and optimal benefit of publicly-funded internship programmes to youth learners. This research study not only has internal validity in terms of the operational delivery of internship programmes but also external contextual importance for publicly-funded learning and placement programmes within the larger human resources development (HRD) domain and local government sector. In the process of conducting the study, stratified random sampling is utilised due to the multi-stakeholder nature of the programme. A stratified survey sample comprising fifty percent (50%) of the total survey population of forty (40) former ICT learners who participated in the internship programme is selected whilst a sample of sixty percent (60%) of the fifteen (15) host municipalities who participated in the programme is also selected using stratified random sampling. The findings of the study indicate that participation in the DBSA/ SALGA ICT Internship Programme has positively promoted the employability of former ICT learners. All ICT learner respondents confirmed current employment within the ICT functional area. Research findings indicate that the local government sector has derived short term retention and benefit from the programme but has not been able to retain the skills of the majority of former ICT learners in the long term. Although most of the former ICT learners have since migrated out of the local government sector, most former learners are still employed in the ICT field within the public sector and to some extent in the private sector of the South African economy. The study found out that most learners were able to assimilate and find employment within their host municipalities or were able to find ICT-related employment soon after graduation. The research findings of this impact assessment study indicate that the DBSA/ SALGA ICT Internship Programme has positively transformed young inexperienced graduates into responsible young adults through the development of key life skills and work experiences to enable them to successfully navigate the path between the classroom and the challenging world of work. / Mini-dissertation submitted in partial fullfilment of the requirements for the North-West University Yunibesiti Ya Bokone-Bophirima Noordwest-Universiteit Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) Human Resource Management (HRM) North-West University (NWU) Graduate School of Business & Government

The topic of integrating the formal learning of graduates with their informal workplace learning has been debated for many years. In practice, however, these two types of learning still exist as two polar opposites, especially in the field of statistics. This study examined the effectiveness of an internship programme as a means to integrate the formal learning of statisticians with their informal workplace learning. Based on the findings, a framework was proposed to ensure integration between the formal and informal workplace learning of statisticians. The study employed a mixed-method approach that combined quantitative and qualitative data collection. Quantitative data were collected from respondents (statisticians who participated in the internship programme and were permanently employed at the time of the study) through an online survey, and qualitative data were collected from managers (who served as mentors to the interns) through conducting semi-structured, one-on-one interviews. Documents pertaining to the internship programme in place at Statistics South Africa were also studied. Many developing countries still lack the capacity to produce, analyse and use the range of quality statistics required to support effective development progress. This study suggested a new way of integrating the formal learning with the informal workplace learning of statisticians, which involved adding a practical component (an internship) to the formal learning of statisticians, therefore, combining an internship during formal learning with an internship upon the completion of formal learning. In this way, statisticians are better capacitated because they can apply their formally obtained knowledge and skills in practice both while being engaged in their formal studies as well as after completing their studies, ensuring integration between formal and informal workplace learning. Crucial factors that would play a role in ensuring success are, for instance, if intern statisticians are placed in areas that are commensurate with their formal learning (thus ensuring utilisation of their skills) and if the level of the tasks assigned to them matches their cognitive ability. Support for interns’ informal learning in the form of mentorship, developmental assignments and training and development opportunities are also crucial to ensure integration between their formal learning and informal workplace learning. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)