Abstract
Ph.D. (Information Management)
The South African landscape on employment has reached a stage which requires strategies and initiatives that can assist and elevate awareness on ways which can facilitate opportunities of placement of people in the labour market. Critical levels of unemployment have placed the priority on the skilling of work seekers at the highest level. The critical issue of unemployment has also impacted on the higher education institutions (HEIs) fraternity to turn out professional graduates that are attractive and appropriately skilled for placement at industry level. HEIs have an unspoken obligation as a research founded environment to be on the cutting edge of processes and strategies on addressing the country's needs and strategic directives. Work-integrated learning (WIL) was identified as a core area which can facilitate preparation and empowering student learning on industry level that can promote student placement and possibly address levels of employment.
HEIs in South Africa require teaching and learning to include WIL within specific learning offerings. The different learning offerings provided by various faculties have unique and diverse procedures which justify different WIL approaches at HEIs. A lack of structure regarding the information management (IM) for WIL across departmental silos, result in different processes followed for WIL. Therefore a lack of structure for IM can impact negatively on the optimal utilisation of WIL. In order to establish an effective IM feedback process the information that currently is, and that potentially could be exchanged between the HEI, the industry partner and the student has to be managed. This relationship is referred to as the WIL triad partners. Effective WIL is largely reliant on the managing of information exchanged between the triad partners. Without an effective flow of information, the WIL component will be cumbersome for the triad partners with duplication taking place across faculties. WIL can be optimally managed from a centralised unit to facilitate information flow between the triad partners, but first a framework has to be developed for the IM for WIL.
Frameworks for the IM for WIL have been developed at international HEIs over long periods of time, which have evolved into good practice benchmarks. An investigation into these frameworks offered valuable insights to be tested at a HEI in South Africa. It became clear from this study that significant challenges are in the order of the day, pertaining to the IM for WIL process in place at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). It is paramount that processes and techniques do not stagnate but evolve with time and in line with the latest trends and
technology. Therefore HEIs should be on par and be in line with the latest trends which affect HEIs' approach to WIL. It is strategic to realise the importance of capacitating students for employment and having the latest, most effective process in place will not only benefit students but add to the value chain of student employability due to strong and established collaboration with industry partners.
The ultimate goal of this study was to develop a conceptual framework for IM for WIL for a HEI. The research resulted in a conceptual framework that would lay the foundation for the ultimate development of a portal, which was identified as the most appropriate platform that could facilitate the creation and development of a centralised solution that would enable IM for WIL processes. Such a platform could then be populated with the relevant data, featuring access functions that will allow for a single repository of data which can be centrally managed. The acceptance of the IM for WIL framework was tested amongst WIL coordinators and a very positive response was achieved. This study could guide and assist the UJ, as well as other HEIs, in developing and structuring of a centralised WIL unit based on an online WIL portal benefiting the role players who are central to the WIL process.