Proceedings of the 10th Focus Conference (TFC 2023)

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The Dichotomy of Curriculum Responsiveness and Graduate Unemployment in South African Higher Education

Authors
Princess Thulile Duma1, *, Samson Adeoluwa Adewumi1, Phiwayinkosi Richmond Gumede2
1Mangosuthu University of Technology, Faculty of Management Sciences, Umlazi, Durban, South Africa
2Mangosuthu University of Technology, Teaching and Learning Development Centre, Umlazi, Durban, South Africa
*Corresponding author. Email: PTDuma@mut.ac.za
Corresponding Author
Princess Thulile Duma
Available Online 6 November 2023.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-134-0_10How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Curriculum; Higher Education; Preparedness; Unemployment; South Africa
Abstract

The direct implication of curriculum as a response to the upsurge in unemployment is still without some doubt, particularly in the context of higher education in South Africa. For the first time in history, the unemployment rate has increased to an all-time high of 32.7%, with young unemployment at 61%. These indices have been compounded by a 7.5% increase in the repo rate which has a direct or indirect impact on the employability of students. Consequently, this may reflect negatively on higher education's credibility. Half of the unemployed young are graduates from higher education institutions. The overall aim of the study is to evaluate curriculum responsiveness to the current unemployment challenges confronting South Africa. A desktop analysis was conducted to determine what the literature proposes for the responsiveness of the higher education curriculum to the South African unemployment rate. The paper concludes that curriculum design and implementation in the context of South African higher education require rejigging and evaluation for the build-up of graduates’ skills and competency for labour market relevance. Thus, relevant stakeholders must swiftly commence the dialogue on how global innovativeness and entrepreneurial skills development can be infused into the South African higher education curriculum.

Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 10th Focus Conference (TFC 2023)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
6 November 2023
ISBN
978-2-38476-134-0
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-134-0_10How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Princess Thulile Duma
AU  - Samson Adeoluwa Adewumi
AU  - Phiwayinkosi Richmond Gumede
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/11/06
TI  - The Dichotomy of Curriculum Responsiveness and Graduate Unemployment in South African Higher Education
BT  - Proceedings of the 10th Focus Conference (TFC 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 146
EP  - 159
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-134-0_10
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-134-0_10
ID  - Duma2023
ER  -