Creating strides in forging close working relationships between students and industry is the role of Shakeel Ori at DUT.
Ori, the dynamic and hard-working Director of Co-operative Education at DUT, was recently appointed as a South African Business Events Ambassador by the South Africa Tourism Bureau. He was also re-appointed as President of the South African Society for Co-operative Education (SASCE), a non-profit organisation that promotes the integration of academic studies with quality work integrated learning.
Ori is one of five ambassadors that were appointed in their respective fields to promote South Africa as a business destination. Business tourism, which combines conferencing with leisure activities, is a growing focus for South Africa’s tourism sector. On his duties as a South African Business Events Ambassador, Ori said these include providing access to international CEOs and decision makers, providing leads on potential business opportunities and making presentations at international business events. He will be involved with intelligence gathering, providing input to bid preparation, liaising with potential host associations and provide insight on factors that may sway bids to South Africa.
“The South Africa Tourism Bureau intend to appoint 20 more ambassadors in the next few years. The aim of my post is to promote South Africa as an events tourism destination. Since we have had success in hosting conferences in KwaZulu-Natal, I was then nominated as the KZN ambassador. Given the status of an events ambassador, it will provide me with access to local and international conferences with the association. This will also allow me to speak on behalf of South Africa and DUT. It is a very useful designation,” he said.
In terms of SASCE, this is Ori’s third term as President of the organisation. As part of this, he also does a lot of presentations on behalf of the organisation, something that also benefits DUT. “Being President of the SASCE also helps me to network with other countries and most of all, it benefits DUT students,” he said.
Speaking more about the Co-operative Education Department, Ori said the unit’s objective is to facilitate co-operation between DUT, external stakeholders and governmental departments. The department has two divisions, one being for experimental learning placements and the other for graduate placement.
“We have had many challenges at our unit as we are short-staffed but a lot of the other engagements that we are getting lend itself to supporting DUT. Through networking and through my role as a South African Business Events Ambassador, President of SASCE as well as Director of the World Association for Co-operative Education (WACE), I can get into contact with a lot more industries which we then persuade to take on our students in the work industry or community for experimental learning. One of the outcomes of this unit is that it has brought on board funding for research students just by linking up with the right people and SETAs and even developing new programmes. One of the recent successes is that we have engaged with the public Technical Vocational Education and Training colleges in KZN. The public TVET colleges and DUT now have a committee set up between them and all the major retailers in KZN,” said Ori.
The Wholesale and Retail SETA (W&RSETA) is one of the many SETAs that Ori’s Department has sought and secured working relations with. Recently, W&RSETA funded DUT to develop curricula in collaboration with the TVET colleges and the retail industry. “The course very much focuses on what the retail industry wants. All the retailers have signed MoU’s with DUT and one of the outcomes of these relationships is that they will now also offer casual jobs to DUT students. All students registering with us for placement in retail programmes are guaranteed placements. This means 99 percent students will get jobs after their placements. It’s not just about the placement but about the articulation of students from the colleges to DUT. The Minister of Higher Education and Training has lauded this programme as a model for SETA-university-TVET-industry interaction,” said Ori.
Ori said his success as well as of his unit is as a result of “a good team as well as people across the university” who have supported the work of his department. “Going forward, we need to prepare students to be work ready. That is they must have work ethics and lecturers also can play a role in preparing the students for the workplace in the future. Education is a partnership, it’s not just giving out academic certificates,” he said.
– Waheeda Peters
Pictured: Director of Co-operative Education at DUT, Shakeel Ori, is now a South African Business Events Ambassador as well as President of the South African Society for Co-operative Education (SASCE).
