Employability, research, innovation.
If you possess these three weapons in your arsenal, then – graduate or experienced employee – you are ready for the future.
And these are the three conundrums that the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) seeks to solve as it tackles the high rates of unemployment among graduates across SA.
The university has set up an institute around future of work highlighting TUT's vision for future readiness at its annual National Dialogue on Future Work.
The initiative is said to have been started to address the three key issues with which many new graduates seem to grapple.
Firstly, the issue around graduate unemployment or employability and the mission was for the institute to engage with the industry to understand the new technological trends and the impact it has on the current jobs so that we find solutions to avert job losses but to also understand the impact it has on the future of work. When we understand those trends and the skills within that scope, we can work with the industry to re-skill the current labour.
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“We are also able to work with the industry to impart new and emerging skills for the students we are having. The second problem that the Institute is ought to resolve is around research,” says Tseliso Mohlomi the Senior Director for the Institute for the Future of Work.
“Secondly, as the Institute, we are supposed to produce high impact research that addresses the needs and challenges of the society and that of the industry. As an Institution, our main task is to liaise with the industry and the society in order to discover the pain points so that when we produce research, it will be research that is able to assist the industry with the challenges that it is facing and also assist the society," Tseliso explains.
The third element around their mission is to look around the issues of innovation, as a university of technology, they are expected to produce technology or solutions that can be used by the industry or by the society.
“Therefore, our role as a university is to be the ear of the university in the industry to understand what kind of solutions they are looking for and also become partners of the industry in order to be able to resolve problems through innovation and through different solutions.”
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Through the intel they gather from the industry, they are able to assist the young people on what kind of skills the industry wants and also forge partnerships with the industry in order to assist young people especially their graduates to acquire the skills that the industry needs.
They intend on addressing the issue around graduate unemployment or employability.
The University of Johannesburg is also keeping a keen eye on the future with a Mainstreaming Blockchain (MB) event on Tuesday, October 24, 2023 where they will have a panel of leading thinkers, experts, and innovators in the blockchain space.
MB is a media event that will explore how blockchain technology can be adopted and applied in South and Sub-Saharan Africa. The event will showcase successful stories, strategies, and challenges of using blockchain technology in various sectors. You will also get to see live demonstrations of blockchain solutions in action.
