Innovative teaching approaches could yield most career-ready, entrepreneurial graduates – Olebogeng Selebi
Today’s high levels of youth unemployment and increasing graduate unemployability strengthen the business case for more innovative approaches to teaching, if universities are to ensure continued relevance and sustainability into the future. This summarises the central message of Dr Olebogeng Selebi, Deputy Director: Centre for the Future of Work and a Senior Lecturer in Strategy at the University of Pretoria (UP), at the recent Higher Education Conference that concluded in Pretoria in October.
Dr Selebi was presenting alongside two other speakers on the theme ‘Entrepreneurial Work-Integrated Learning and the Responsibility of Universities’. She spoke on the sub-theme, Entrepreneurial Work-Integrated Learning and the Responsibility of Universities in Nurturing Student Entrepreneurs.
Understanding the context
Dr Selebi (right) highlighted the importance of understanding the rapidly evolving work environment. “We spend a third of our lives working,” she said, adding that this big part of life touches and affects people’s identities and contributions to society. She argued that the shift in the job market necessitates that educational institutions adapt to prepare students accordingly.
With reference to the high youth unemployment rate, she said “The issue is not only that jobs aren’t available. We are not skilling our youth for the jobs that are being created within the environment that we live in.” She then spoke of “un-employability”, a situation where graduates lack the necessary work experience and skills, regardless of their educational qualifications. She cited the youth in Atteridgeville, her home township in Pretoria, who spend every single day of the week day idling on street corners, as an example of un-employability at play – stemming from a lack of requisite skills.
She also referred to a recent controversial statement by one of South Africa’s famous DJs, DJ Zinhle, who angered many people by reportedly suggesting that most university graduates are unemployable. Dr Selebi supported this view. “We tend to emphasise the hard and technical skills that we teach, but the development of soft skills is often not as well nurtured in our graduates.”
She believes graduates must have strong communication, emotional resilience, and stress-handling skills.
The value of work-integrated learning
On the value of work-integrated learning, Dr Selebi said “There are certain skills you cannot learn in a classroom,” further quoting an Ibo idiom that translates into “What an old man sees sitting down, a young man cannot see standing up.” This means that practical experience is vital in comprehensively appreciating the dynamism of diverse working environments.
She questioned, “As much as we are producing these graduates, what role are we playing as universities, to create an environment in which they [graduates] can apply their skills?”
She also touched on the relevance of entrepreneurship in all disciplines. “Are we inculcating a culture of entrepreneurship, regardless of the discipline? Entrepreneurship cuts across the board. Regardless of whether you’re an engineer or a doctor; you should be taught entrepreneurial skills. So that’s one role that, as universities, we have to play.”
Personalised learning pathways
Dr Selebi posited that from research studies undertaken at her institution, they had found, for instance, that there are certain skills that males tend to be stronger in when compared with females, and vice versa. For instance, “what we found is that male graduates tend to need to develop growth mindset, they need to develop opportunity assessment, self- efficacy, value creation, perseverance. These are the types of skills that male graduates tend to lack. Now, of course, this is not in every case. Female graduates, in comparison, tend to lag behind in leadership skills. They need to develop value creation skills and resilience.”
To address these challenges, Dr Selebi suggested developing more personalised pedagogies in higher education. She championed micro-credentialling – short-programme pathways after completing the generic degree curricula – that would enable students to acquire specific skills in identified need areas. “As universities, we must play a role in identifying and teaching the right skills, but also personalising them to particular individuals.”
Computational thinking in entrepreneurs
She also mentioned computational thinking as an essential skill for entrepreneurs. She defined computational thinking as “taking large problems and breaking them into small pieces and solving a piece to get to the solution,” – common practice in every good problem-solving cycle. Equating this to building blocks, she said such a skill could be taught from early childhood. To move in that direction, Dr Selebi encouraged the creation of what she called maker spaces at universities — innovative environments where students can physically apply themselves to problem-solving. “A maker space is a problem-solving space where you use play to problem-solve,” she elaborated, emphasising learning by doing.
Creating entrepreneurial ecosystems
Her final point concerned universities creating supportive entrepreneurial ecosystems — environments where entrepreneurs can flourish. “It’s not enough to just provide the skills,” she declared, adding: “Are we providing some form of mentorship, access to markets, and access to funding?” These were important factors to consider in developing the ecosystems that would address the many barriers young entrepreneurs face. She said her experience at UP’s Mamelodi Business Hub had demonstrated that even well-equipped graduates need some support and resources to bring their business ideas to life.
In conclusion, Dr Selebi said, “We have to change all students’ mindsets and show them that ‘you can take your skill and convert it into employment, not just for yourself, but also for others’.”
Within USAf, entrepreneurship, as a focus area does not only enjoy dedicated attention through the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme. It is also a priority focus area (alongside work-integrated learning, etc) of the World of Work Strategy Group which, for the past few years, was chaired by Professor Thandwa Mthembu, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Durban University of Technology. Professor Letlhokwa Mpedi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg, recently took over the chairpersonship of the WSG.
Mduduzi Mbiza is a contracted writer for Universities South Africa.
