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Teaching and Learning Review 2018

Student Computing Services further offer a wide range of services focused on teaching and learning and facilitating the work of lecturers as well as students through the use of various technologies.

Completion

Some of the recent projects that were launched in order to improve the service delivery in computer facilities across the various campuses include the improvement of AV technologies in various classroom facilities, the acquisition and implementation of a comprehensive computer laboratory management system and the replacement of standard desktop computers with more modern ‘all-in-one’ units.

The Department for Enrolment and Student Administration plays an important role in the student’s educational pathway from recruitment to graduation. Their Career Services office has long offered a range of support to students. In 2018, they presented various contact workshops to enhance employability. These included personal branding, presentation skills, LinkedIn profiling, artificial intelligence, interview preparation and CVs. In addition to the workshops, 14 individual events were hosted for companies on campus, attended by 1 980 students.

Extensive upgrade projects and expansion of a number of facilities at Hatfield, Prinshof, Groenkloof, Onderstepoort and Mamelodi campuses were also undertaken. Furthermore, additional Wi-Fi capabilities have been installed at a number of computer facilities, provision has been made for students who would like to make use of their own computing devices, and a dedicated support service has been established for students who make use of their own computing devices. The most recent development was the incorporation of the management of student computing facilities, situated within the libraries across the various campuses, into the Student Computing Division of the UAIT. This boosted the number of computers being managed by Student Computing to approximately 7 000. A project is currently underway to develop UP’s first mobile application. The initial phase of this project entailed the selection of a suitable mobile development framework and led to the acquisition of the Modo Labs platform. The main development theme of the new UP mobile app will be to design a quick-reference web applications mobile app pointing to existing content by making use of, for instance, Extensible Mark-up Language (XML). ITS will expand this development work to include native app links coded into the mobile app for fast performance and a high degree of reliability. The target date for implementation of the mobile application is 31 August 2019.

Careers Services

Students in some programmes find it particularly difficult to get employment, and Career Services launched a new initiative to assist such students. A close working relationship with employers resulted in enhanced employer involvement in UP activities, and the career airs were well attended by students. Career Fairs were organised for the faculties

of Law, Economic and Management Sciences (for accounting), Natural and Agricultural Sciences (for actuarial science) and Engineering, Built Environment and IT (specifically for the engineering students), and there was a general career fair. The Graduate Recruitment Handbook is an annual publication produced by the Career Services office to provide advice to UP students for the transition from university to the corporate environment. An electronic version is available all year round on TuksCareers (student portal) and the UP website. Mass e-mails promoting the use of the handbook are sent to approximately 60 000 students on an ongoing basis throughout the year. TuksCareers is an online application that allows UP to communicate with students about potential employers and job offerings. The system also offers students the functionality to book for appointments and events and to access resources to help them be ready for work. The database has 849 active companies, and 251 job opportunities were posted by companies in the last year.

Various stakeholders were engaged to promote work-integrated learning and internships, such as Community Engagement in the Department for Education Innovation at UP, Boston College, Ford, Absa, Common Purpose, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Toyota, Public Investment Corporation and the University of Regina. Career Services also assisted students with work experience by facilitating on-campus job opportunities. For the first time, an intern from Oxford University spent several weeks on a UP campus, gaining experience in institutional research and career services. Dr Martina Jordaan, the community engagement organiser in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT, launched a project to develop mentorship opportunities. Collaboration was established with the Alumni Office to track alumni and their employers via LinkedIn. Towards the end of 2018, a South African employer database with designations and contact details was purchased in collaboration with the Department of University Relations. Surveys completed in 2018 include a graduate destination survey and an employer survey (what employers want). Initiatives Focused on Work Readiness and Entrepreneurship Career Services has more recently linked to the Work Readiness and Entrepreneurship (WREn) initiative of the Vice Principal: Academic through the Ready for Work programme. The undergraduate academic curriculum focuses to some extent on the knowledge and skills students might need in the workplace; however, pragmatic skills on how to write a CV, how to secure the first interview and how to behave at that interview to secure the first job, and how to remain meaningfully employed over a lifetime often need to be learnt outside the formal curriculum. Using their knowledge and skills relating to career planning, job preparation and workplace skills acquired over a number of years, in 2017 the Career Services office partnered with Enterprises UP to develop a number of free professional online development (POD) modules to equip graduates to be competitive when entering the job market, and the number of modules was increased in 2018. The Ready for Work programme now consists of four free core packages comprising five to seven modules each: Career Planning, Job Preparation, Workplace Skills and Personal Development (see http://www.enterprises.up.ac.za/training-solutions/ready4work/). Each package takes about five hours to complete and, after assessment, students receive certificates that they may use to enhance their curriculum vitae. The packages are self-paced and are presented fully online. A fifth package, focusing on specialised skills, consists of online courses and face-to-face workshops available at a nominal fee. During 2018 there were 2 018 enrolments in the free packages, with 1 464 students completing their PODs (72,55% – excellent for self-study online programmes). Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The plan for 2019 is for each of the faculties to produce three PODs to add to the free Ready for Work programme. Professor Duncan, Vice-Principal: Academic, organised several ‘Future of Work’ workshops and seminars: 31 January – ‘Future of Work’ – Mr Barry Vorster, Director at PWC 16 May – ‘Future of Work’ – Mr Willem Roos, CEO Rain Mobile and former CEO and founder of Outsurance 30 May – ‘The entrepreneurial university’ – Professor Paul Coyle. Founder of the Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, London 31 August – ‘Employability’ – Mr Barry Vorster and PWC team

Ready for Work