Abstract
In this chapter, we explore employer perceptions of recent graduates from South African universities. We first consider opportunities for graduates from different universities, based on employers’ stated preferences. We look at what employers want in the graduates they recruit and how satisfied they say they are, locating this in relation to socio-economic conditions of inequality and uneven graduate ‘capitals’ in order to analyse whether graduate employment opportunities re-inforce or fracture the inequalities of access and participation in university education. We base our analysis on 17 major employers (15 private and 2 public) with whom we conducted telephone interviews and a third public-sector employer who finally agreed to complete a questionnaire based on the interview schedule. We spoke to key persons responsible for graduate employment and training after appropriate clearance was obtained and the purpose of the research clearly communicated. Sectors included construction, mining, banking, financial and investment services, retail, manufacturing, transport and supply chain companies.
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Notes
- 1.
Varsity College was founded around 20 years ago, as the higher education sector of the Independent Institute of Education (IIE), the largest accredited private education provider in the country. There are eight campuses nationwide offering tuition support for a variety of higher education degrees, diplomas and higher certificates, including the UK Open University (OU). Pass rates are good: the national average pass rate was 80 per cent, with 24 per cent of students who passed achieving distinctions. The drop-out rate is 16 per cent compared to the national average for all higher education institutions of over 30 per cent. See https://www.varsitycollege.co.za/.
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Walker, M., Fongwa, S. (2017). Employers and Graduate Opportunities. In: Universities, Employability and Human Development. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58452-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58452-6_7
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