The closing day of the 3rd WIL Africa Conference provided recommendations of improving Work Integrated Learning (WIL) – with delegates agreeing to make it work for all parties involved.
The three-day conference was wrapped-up at Umhlanga Coastlands Hotel on Friday, 20 July and underlined some of the major issues relating to WIL in Universities of Technologies (UoT’s) and TVET Colleges. Throughout the conference, the values of WIL to students were highlighted. It was concluded that WIL provides opportunities for students to interact with the real work environment and also assist them to properly define where they want to be.
In his address on the Decolonization of the Curricula, the CEO of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), Joe Samuels said WIL must support articulated learning pathways.
“WIL must find ways to recognize the prior learning. It must be linked to the qualification and professional designation. WIL must be accessible and it must include the voice of the learners. Moreover, for WIL to be effective, institutions of higher education and training should develop strong partnerships with industries,” said Samuels.
Sipho Mkhize, Alumni at the Durban University of Technology and Media Liaison Officer of KwaDukuza Municipality, highlighted some of the recommendations which were taken at conference.
“During the student seminar on day two, there was a conclusion to say that WIL has to be standardized because it is not clear what it is. Some say it is WIL, some say it is Co-Operative Education and others say it is In-service training, there is a bit of imbalance there. You have some students saying that they have to shadow someone for one week and that translates to WIL, others six months, others a year, so there is a need for stabilization there,” said Mkhize.
In his closing remarks of the conference, the Deputy President of the Southern African Society for Co-operative Education (SASCE), Andile Sphengane emphasized the importance of research in address issues relating to WIL.
“We need to look at the successes and failures of WIL. We need to track our students to know how they are performing in the industry. We need to ensure that students meet the expectations of the industry. This will help us see areas of improvement and address them immediately,” said Sphengane.
During the conference, it was recommended that SASCE should establish student chapters which will own branches in all institutions of higher education and training to help ease the challenges that relates to WIL.
Pictured: The panellists during the workshop on Decolonization of the Curricula.
Sandile Lukhozi
