• To help students grow in their personal development, their understanding of self and their direction in life; and
• To be conscious that even entertainment and adventure activities should be orientated towards workplace preparation. Motivation for running Workplace Readiness Skills workshops
• Most of the students will not have had the opportunity of work experience and have little idea of what the requirements of the workplace demand.
• Due to their backgrounds, not many of the students have had exposure to the corporate world or the world of the CA.
• Many come from previously disadvantaged education systems, where they have not had the opportunities afforded to those with whom they will have to compete with in the market place.
• Many students have not had exposure in their homes, or in their upbringing, to the life skills required to achieve equally in the corporate world.
• The demands and realities of the workplace also ensure a constant increase in expectation. A failure to address these issues creates failures during the course of the learnerships. This becomes especially critical as the medium-sized and smaller firms start to become a more active and a larger percentage recruiter of these graduates. Few of these firms have the resources to provide sufficient workplace readiness training, or to integrate culturally diverse employees into the workplace. These learners need to be equipped as effectively as possible before they enter such environments. • The students need to be given every opportunity to compete equally with other young chartered accountants. To achieve this, we believe the presentation of a balanced four year programme as outlined below; will launch UL students confidently in taking their place alongside other graduates when they begin work.
Outputs and Benefits of the Workshops The courses will achieve the following: • Learners will gain skills which will enable them to make a better contribution to the workplace, and be more confident and motivated. • The University of Limpopo will advance its reputation in the workplace, have more motivated pupils as well as reap the immediate benefits of producing students with increased life skills. • The workplace/employer will be more effective when learners with increased confidence and skills enter the workplace. Presentation of Workplace Readiness Skills workshops The workshops are deliberately planned to be interactive and exciting. All input and activities are geared at personal discovery as opposed to up front lecture input.
SAICA ACCREDITATION SELF-EVALUATION REPORT 2011
Aim of Workplace Readiness Skills workshops The aim of these workshops is to provide a specialist workplace readiness skills-training course to accounting students at the University of Limpopo (UL) in order to prepare them for the workplace and to provide them with the life skills that will enable them to confidently and productively take their place equally with their counterparts in the office environment.
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