Skills requirements in South African supply chains : a higher education perspective
- Authors: Luke, Rose , Heyns, Gert J.
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Supply chain skills , Supply chain education , Hard and soft skills
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/401822 , uj:33600 , Citation: Luke, R. & Heyns, G.j. 2019. Skills requirements in South African supply chains : a higher education perspective.
- Description: Abstract: In recent years, South African supply chains have struggled to move domestic and international freight efficiently and effectively. The purpose of this paper is to determine the skills that students believe are required in the industry to determine whether there is a mismatch between the supply and the demand of supply chain management skills. The findings from this research suggest that, while industry has a need for technical (hard) skills, there is a stronger requirement for soft skills, which largely appear to be undervalued by students. This suggests that current curriculums focus on hard skills and do not meet the skill sets required by industry, which provides evidence of gaps within the current supply chain education programmes. This research provides an original contribution in that it is the only survey that gauges students’ perspectives on logistics and supply chain requirements in South Africa and compares them to industry perspectives to provide a comprehensive overview of supply chain education in South Africa.
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Investigating the quality of university education : a focus on supply chain management
- Authors: Mageto, Joash , Luke, Rose , Heyns, Gert
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Service quality , Supply chain education , Factor analysis
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/452737 , uj:39941 , Citation: Mageto, J., Luke, R. & Heyns, G. 2020. Investigating the quality of university education : a focus on supply chain management.
- Description: Abstract: While the quality of higher education has received attention from researchers globally, its focus has been mainly on universities in ‘developed country’ contexts. There has been limited research on the quality of higher education in African universities, and even less that has focused on the discipline of supply chain management. In this paper, the quality of supply chain education of five universities in Kenya is investigated using a SERVPERF model. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 781 students enrolled for a supply chain management qualification. The data were analysed through confirmatory factor analysis and one-way analysis of variance. The findings are fourfold: (1) the service quality of supply chain education is at medium level in terms of the SERVPERF metrics; (2) four dimensions were identified by students as the most important aspects of service quality: course-centeredness, academic and support staff helpfulness, service excellence and learning facilities; (3) a four-factor SERVPERF model of supply chain service quality is developed and (4) service quality was significantly different across the selected universities. Although the service quality was rated at a medium level overall, the variability in quality across universities should alert educators and management to the need for a coordinated effort to improve particular aspects of students’ learning experiences. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by establishing that SERVPERF is a four-factor model in the higher education sector.
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