The purpose of this project is to develop a classroom handbook explaining the process and standards, necessary in developing an employability portfolio.

Approximately 80% of undergraduate students work during the course of their undergraduate studies. Ideally, student's on-campus employment would contribute to his or her learning and development. However, because student employment is typically approached as the fulfillment of job tasks rather than student development, higher education institutions miss critical opportunities for supporting student academic and social integration. This study reframes on-campus student employment as a developmental effort. Data in this qualitative study indicate that on-campus employment can offer opportunities for student development and academic and social integration, and that it can positively influence students' sense of mattering and overall satisfaction with their college experience. It highlights the importance of supervision in student employment and informs our understanding of the ways different types of jobs can influence students' experiences. Given that students with fewer economic resources often come from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds and are potentially more at-risk for not completing their studies, colleges and universities should reconfigure on-campus jobs as opportunities for both employment and academic success.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship of participation and involvement in an undergraduate student success program to academic success and persistence among students in three programs sponsored by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB): the G-Force Collegiate Work-Study Mentorship Program, the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) for Higher Education (AHE) program, and the THECB work-study program. The sample was identified using data from the THECB during the 2009-2013 academic years. Compared to THECB work-study students, significantly more AHE and G-Force students persisted toward graduation while engaged in the program (p < .001). ANOVA indicated that AHE students had a higher average GPA compared to G-Force and THECB work-study students, controlled for gender, race/ethnicity, pre-program GPA, and length of time in the position. Regression analyses found no statistically significant relationship between program associations and persistence towards graduation or GPA. Results suggest that although participation in a peer leadership programs such as AHE and G-Force encourage greater academic achievement and persistence, there is no direct relation to the achievement of these outcome variables. Implications of the study suggest the need for a deeper analysis into elements of peer leadership programs that contribute to student success, an expanded analysis of outcomes across a wider range of demographic variables, and an exploration of peer leadership programs across campuses for comparison of persistence and GPA outcomes.

The main purpose of this project is to provide an easy-to-use interface for students and faculty members to interact with each other during the course of a student's internship class.

This research paper seeks to explore whether the University of KwaZulu-Natal (U.K.Z.N) Humanities Social Science Faculty (HSF) can provide utility (economic) value to the eThekwini region and the South African developmental state. Utility value within this paper is defined as being, „The welfare a given investor assigns to an investment with a particular expected return and risk.‟ (duke.edu). A developmental state according to Professor Ziya Onis is a “…state where the government is intimately involved in the macro and micro-economic planning in order to grow the economy.” (Onis 1991). Each existing developmental state has approached its development in a unique and contextually relevant manner. Yet all developmental states have one key variable prominent: Human Capital Development through investment in the Science Engineering and Management streams of study. This research project uses a qualitative research approach comprising of semi-structured interviews with selected personnel from the University‟s Humanities Social Science Faculty, private sector organisations, the local municipality, a representative from the Minister of Higher Education and Training and the Reference group set up by the Ministry to investigate the state of the HSF in South Africa. Six key questions will inform this research. Firstly, what is the content and curriculum make-up of a Humanities Social Science of the University of KwaZulu-Natal degree and what factors inform its make-up? Secondly, what is utility value expressed in employment terms does an HS degree provide? Thirdly, how are HSF Degrees structured to offer both knowledge and utility value to their students - and in turn - the South African job market? Fourthly, where do HSF graduates get employed i.e. in which Government Departments or industries do they find employment? Fifthly, what meaningful role does an HSF degree offer in the context of the developmental State in South Africa? And finally, does the UKZN HSF and its degrees need an overhaul? And if it is concluded that it does not need it, why does it not? This research project found that the Humanities Social Science Faculty and its products, the graduates , do provide utility value - needed for leading people and organisations - in the form of management skills, deductive reasoning, critical and lateral thinking. However, if the current state of the HS-Faculty continues, namely; the large number of students enrolled, the non-enterprising curriculum, the non-collaborative relationship between the faculty and local business and governmental structures, the HSF will have no “active role” in the developmental state and will in “fact” become a problem. And subsequently, a problem that contributes to the phenomena of unemployable graduates in a major way. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine how the current hospitality management curriculum at The International Hotel School contributes to students’ preparedness from their own perspectives. Generic and curriculum specific skills that can be used for curriculum evaluation were identified, a framework of curriculum variables to rate the level of student preparedness was developed, the effectiveness of the hospitality management curriculum from the perspectives of students’ perceptions of preparedness was analysed, and the aspects that contribute most to student preparedness were identified through a literature study and an empirical investigation. The findings were summarised and it was recommended that The International Hotel School needs to review the hotel and restaurant accounting course and the experiential learning components. Furthermore, lecturers of The International Hotel School should receive training on the implementation of more interactive course content delivery methods. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Adult Education)

Bibliography / Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since the advent of the 21st century the world has been experiencing rapid changes in knowledge, technology and information. These changes pose challenges to the providers of education and training in general and vocational education and training in particular. The impact of technological advancement and the nature of organisational changes in the workplace demand skills of an increasingly higher level – particularly skills in the areas of information technology, problem solving and communication. The problem identified in this study was that graduates from vocational training centres (VTCs) in Namibia did not have appropriate employability skills needed at the workplace, as indicated by Namibian employers. The aim of this study was to identify the types of employability skills considered important by employers at the workplace and to determine how such skills could be integrated into the vocational education and training curriculum in Namibia. A literature review conducted revealed that employers require workers with the following key, core or employability skills: communication, information technology, working with numbers, working with others, problem solving and improving one’s own learning and performance. The population for this study was 493 employers providing on-the-job training or employing vocational training centre graduates. A total of 244 out of the 493 employers responded. The population of the study represented the following occupational sectors: auto trades, building construction trades, metalwork trades and electrical engineering trades. Data for the study were collected through reviewing the literature on employability skills, a survey questionnaire to employers and face-to-face interviews conducted with selected employers during the research. The following questions were explored in the questionnaire and structured interviews: i) Which employability skills are important at the workplace? ii) Who is responsible for developing employability skills? iii) If it is the responsibility of vocational training centres to foster employability skills, at which educational level should employability skills education be introduced? iv) How should the acquisition of employability skills be promoted? v) How should employability skills be assessed? The study found that employers in Namibia considered employability skills such as teamwork, time management, a positive attitude, problem solving, planning, and coping with multiple tasks as the most important skills they required from vocational training centre graduates. Employers further indicated that employability skills could be developed at family/home settings as well as at school and vocational training centres and suggested that employability skills education be introduced from level 1 during the first year of training. It was also found that portfolios, observation and practical assessment were credible approaches for assessing employability skills and that this should be done in real-life contexts. Based on the conclusions arrived at in the study, it is recommended that a policy framework for employability skills be developed and implemented in the Namibian vocational education and training system. Specific recommendations are made regarding the following aspects: the type of employability skills; whose responsibility it is to develop these skills; at which level of training the development of employability skills should be implemented; how they could best be learned and how the learning of employability skills could be assessed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die snelle veranderinge op die gebied van kennis, tegnologie en inligting sedert die begin van die 21ste eeu bied groot uitdagings aan die verskaffers van onderwys en opleiding in die algemeen en beroepsonderwys en -opleiding in die besonder. Die uitwerking van tegnologiese vordering en die aard van organisatoriese veranderinge in die werkplek vereis groter hoërorde-vaardighede as vantevore – veral vaardighede op die gebied van inligtingstegnologie, probleemoplossing en kommunikasie. Die probleem wat in hierdie studie aan bod gekom het, was dat gegradueerdes van beroepsopleidingsentrums in Namibië nie oor voldoende indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede wat in die werkplek benodig word, beskik nie, soos aangedui deur Namibiese werknemers. Die doel van hierdie navorsing was om die soorte indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede wat werkgewers by indiensneming van personeel as belangrik beskou te identifiseer, en om vas te stel hoe sodanige vaardighede in die kurrikulum vir beroepsonderwys en .. opleiding in Namibië geïntegreer kan word. Literatuuroorsig het getoon dat werknemers benodig word met die volgende belangrike, kern- of indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede: kommunikasie, inligtingstegnologie, syfervaardigheid, samewerking met ander persone, probleemoplossing en die verbetering van eie leer en prestasie. Die navorsingspopulasie vir hierdie studie het uit 493 werkgewers bestaan wat indiensopleiding verskaf of wat persone in diens het wat reeds hul beroepsopleiding voltooi het. Tweehonderd-vier-en-veertig werkgewers het uiteindelik aan die vraelysondersoek deelgeneem. Die motor-, konstruksie- en metaalwerkbedryf, asook die elektriese-ingenieurswesesektor, is in die navorsingspopulasie verteenwoordig. Data is ingesamel deur literatuuroorsig te doen oor indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede, en deur vraelyste en persoonlike onderhoude. Die volgende vrae is in die vraelys en tydens gestruktureerde onderhoude gestel: i) Watter indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede is in die werkplek belangrik? ii) Wie is verantwoordelik vir die ontwikkeling van indiensneembaarheids-vaardighede? iii) Indien dit die verantwoordelikheid is van beroepsopleidingsentra om indiensneembaarheids-vaardighede te bevorder, op watter opvoedkundige vlak behoort opleiding met betrekking tot indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede ingestel te word? iv) Hoe behoort die aanleer van indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede bevorder te word? v) Hoe behoort indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede geassesseer te word? Daar is bevind dat werkgewers in Namibië indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede soos spanwerk, tydbestuur, positiewe houding, probleemoplossing, beplanning en die hantering van veelvuldige take as die belangrikste vaardighede beskou wat hulle van potensiële opgeleide werknemers verwag. Werkgewers het aangedui dat indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede in die huis, in skole en deur beroepsopleidingsentrums ontwikkel kan word. Hulle het voorgestel dat opleiding in indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede in die eerste jaar van opleiding by die beroepsopleidingsentrums vanaf vlak 1 aangebied behoort te word. Verdere bevinding was dat die assessering van kwekelinge se portefeuljes, waarneming en praktiese assessering geloofwaardige benadering tot die assessering van indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede is en dat dit binne die konteks van die werklike lewe gedoen behoort te word. Daar word op grond van die bevindinge onder meer aanbeveel dat beleidsraamwerk vir die ontwikkeling van indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede in die Namibiese beroepsonderwys en .. opleidingstelsel ontwikkel en geïmplementeer word. Spesifieke aanbevelings word gemaak ten opsigte van die tipes indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede, wie se verantwoordelikheid dit is om hierdie vaardighede te ontwikkel, op watter opleidingsvlak die indiensnemingsvaardighede geïmplementeer behoort te word, hoe dit ten beste aangeleer kan word, en hoe die leerproses met betrekking tot indiensneembaarheidsvaardighede geassesseer kan word.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Caroline_do_Amaral_Nunes.pdf: 647556 bytes, checksum: a00d7da7949eb76010d536cfe3a5b36e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-28 / Several factors may influence the decision to choose which profession process: parents, friends, jobs and even \"vocation\". And the accounting profession has several areas of expertise that may also influence your choice. In light of the above, this study aims to investigate the factors most influenced the choice of students for undergraduate degree in Accounting in private Higher Education Institutions established in the City of S??o Paulo. For data collection instrument was applied using probes containing twenty-five-point Likert scale. Participated in the survey one hundred twenty-three students in the first semester of Accounting in three private higher education institutions in S??o Paulo: FECAP, MACKENZIE and S??O JUDAS. The results show that the most influential factors are the employability and career prospects. It was found also that the parents did not exert direct influence on the choice of the course the students surveyed. / S??o v??rios os fatores podem influenciar no processo de decis??o de qual profiss??o escolher: os pais, os amigos, o emprego e at?? mesmo \"voca????o\". E a profiss??o de contador possui v??rias ??reas de atua????o que tamb??m podem influenciar na sua escolha. Em fun????o do exposto, este trabalhotem como objetivo investigar os fatores mais influenciaram a escolha de estudantes pelo curso de gradua????o em Ci??ncias Cont??beis em Institui????es de Ensino Superior particulares estabelecidas na Cidade de S??o Paulo. Para a coleta de dados foi aplicado um instrumento contendo vinte assertivas utilizando-se escala Likert de cinco pontos. Participaram da pesquisa cento e vinte e tr??s estudantes do primeiro semestre do curso de Ci??ncias Cont??beis em tr??s Institui????es de Ensino Superior particulares da cidade de S??o Paulo: FECAP, MACKENZIE e S??O JUDAS. Os resultados encontrados apontam que os fatores mais influentess??o a empregabilidade e a perspectiva de carreira. Constatou-se, tamb??m, que os pais n??o exerceram influ??ncia direta na escolha do curso dos estudantes pesquisados.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree MAGISTER TECHNOLOGIAE in Quality Faculty of Engineering CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, 2012 / Post apartheid South Africa experienced major economic turbulence with poverty, unemployment and skills shortage, with most manufacturing and other key economic sectors affected by poor productivity and a subsequent downsizing of their labour work force. At the same time, many economic opportunities arose, including the full impact of globalisation, the emergence of China and Africa as economic partners and becoming a full member of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) economic development group by the year 2010. The government and business communities at large realised the necessity for skills augmentation in order to expedite economic development and alleviate the scarcity of employment opportunities and growth across the major economic sectors. The backdrop of the economic upheaval of 2008 and 2009 placed manufacturing firms under pressure to reconsider their current operational strategies by streamlining their organisations and adopting aggressive lean and cost saving approaches in order to remain competitive. There is a perceived lack of alignment between industry and institutions alike, sometimes resulting in a perception that graduating industrial engineers do not entirely match industry expectations. Thus, it is imperative to explore the articulation and relationship between those industries that rely on the skills of industrial engineering technologists and the graduate industrial engineers with emphasis on the skills expectations as stressed by the national priorities and the academic capacity to meet these skills expectation in today’s competitive professional arena. This perceived lack of alignment between end user requirements and the service provided falls within the ambit of the field of quality management. This study focuses on two main sample groups within two areas of interest: • The industrial engineering student community and their respective academic environments; and • the relevant industrial engineering industry and its working environment. A self-administered questionnaire coupled with a number of interviews is employed in order to gather the required data. Grouped samples, involve the relevant industry employers, students and academic institutions. The research explores the pertinent roles and responsibilities expected of industrial engineers and industrial engineering technologists on entry into the working environment, as compared to the current level of training offered by various institutional bodies as expressed by the South African qualifications authority (SAQA) and the national qualifications framework (NQF). The validation of the analysis and outcomes of the study culminates through the exploration of the following: • The influence of skills levels on productivity within the relevant industrial engineering industries. • The demand and supply of industrial engineering skills. • Skilling industrial engineering graduates for their required roles and responsibilities. • Governing bodies responsible for the curriculation of industrial engineering programmes, offered by institutions of higher learning. The study aims to proffer valuable knowledge by identifying better opportunities for employment in the industrial engineering field, the addition of value towards better industrial engineering schooling and output quality of students emerging from institutions, and lastly superseding earlier misconceived perceptions of industrial engineering.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine how the current hospitality management curriculum at The International Hotel School contributes to students’ preparedness from their own perspectives. Generic and curriculum specific skills that can be used for curriculum evaluation were identified, a framework of curriculum variables to rate the level of student preparedness was developed, the effectiveness of the hospitality management curriculum from the perspectives of students’ perceptions of preparedness was analysed, and the aspects that contribute most to student preparedness were identified through a literature study and an empirical investigation. The findings were summarised and it was recommended that The International Hotel School needs to review the hotel and restaurant accounting course and the experiential learning components. Furthermore, lecturers of The International Hotel School should receive training on the implementation of more interactive course content delivery methods. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Adult Education)