The city of Durban is well prepared to host the 18th WACE World Conference on Co-operative and Work-Integrated Education in June this year, Dr Paul Stonely, Chief Executive Officer of the World Council and Assembly on Co-operative Education (WACE) confirmed during his recent visit at DUT.

The conference will take place from June 24-27, 2013. A biennial event, the conference attracts individuals from various sectors including academic, government as well as corporate. Delegates from different parts of the world meet here to share and exchange research, practices and ideas on co-operative and work-integrated education. They also network and build relationships with other attendees.

Dr Stonely said “co-operative and work-integrated education has been proven to be the best way to prepare young professionals for the workplace. South Africa is one of the world leaders in this regard and it is for this reason that the country was chosen as the host for the upcoming conference.” Preparations for the conference have been underway for the past two years. With the conference only a few months away, Dr Stonely flew to Durban to see the host city’s progress in terms of preparing for this event.

During his visit, Dr Stonely had several meetings with the conference’s operations committee. He also visited the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC) and DUT where the main proceedings and conference workshops will be held respectively.

Dr Stonely said he was very pleased with how preparations for the conference were going. “The city is well prepared,” he said.

He was also satisfied with DUT’s preparations, saying the Director of Co-operative Education at DUT, Shakeel Ori, did commendable work in the past two years. As an institution that has been a global partner with WACE for years, which offers such a well-known work-integrated learning programme, Dr Stonely said it was only befitting for DUT to host the conference workshops.

He said he hopes that apart from being a platform for robust discussions and knowledge exchange, the upcoming conference will afford all attendees the opportunity to experience South Africa’s rich culture and heritage.

– Naledi Hlefane

Pictured: Dr Paul Stonely, WACE Chief Executive Officer during his recent visit at DUT.