Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Higher education and job creation in South Africa : institutional mentorship for employability

Thesis (PhD (Education Management, Law and Policy))--University of Pretoria, 2023.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Adeyemo, K.S. (Kolawole Samuel)
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2023
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613653583265792
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Adeyemo, K.S. (Kolawole Samuel)
author_browse Adeyemo, K.S. (Kolawole Samuel)
author_facet Adeyemo, K.S. (Kolawole Samuel)
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD (Education Management, Law and Policy))--University of Pretoria, 2023.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/93334
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:34.197Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/93334 Higher education and job creation in South Africa : institutional mentorship for employability Adeyemo, K.S. (Kolawole Samuel) ocoffi@gmail.com Dangbegnon, Ophelie Romance Laure UCTD Employability Graduate unemployment Institutional mentorship Higher education Mentorship Education theses SDG-04 SDG-04: Quality education Education theses SDG-08 SDG-08: Decent work and economic growth Thesis (PhD (Education Management, Law and Policy))--University of Pretoria, 2023. As postulated in human capital theory, education is a substantial investment with potential benefits and return rates for individuals and society. Over time, various studies have shown that the acquisition of a higher level of education ideally leads to better employment prospects, with employees earning relatively higher salaries, which directly impacts a country's economic advancement and human and social capital development. Despite the increasing numbers of graduates, the supply of suitable employment is not, due to factors such as education misalignment and lack of skills. Other studies suggest that graduate unemployment is also a factor of higher education institutions (HEIs) not always successfully preparing students to become influential labour market analysts. Paradoxically, the South African youth unemployment rate continues to rise quarterly despite increasing graduate numbers. It is against this background that this study aims to determine whether an institutional mentorship programme would significantly increase graduates' success in the labour market and equip them with the necessary innovative tools for contributing to job creation. For this purpose, Kram's mentorship theory was used to frame the philosophical grounding of this study. This theory is based fundamentally on the interaction between an older mentor who is experienced and a younger protégé who is still less experienced. During their interaction, the mentor is primarily tasked with developing the specific career needs of the protégé. Through its evolution over time, Kram’s mentorship theory has focused on the relational aspect that is embedded and developed within the context of the protégé’s career. Together with a quantitative research design, the theory helps to broaden the understanding of the link between institutional mentorship and employability. Such an approach further helps explain whether this type of embedded relational mentorship could be viewed as a possible strategy to thwart the growing graduate unemployment rates. Accordingly, an electronic survey was administered to alumni of a South African higher education institution to determine the efficacy or otherwise of the relational mentorship approach as a mechanism to enhance graduate employability. Results from this study show that participation in institutional mentorship programmes can address the issue of skills mismatch and field of study misalignment, which are listed as some of the causal factors of unemployment in South Africa. Furthermore, data show the efficacy of institutional mentorship in boosting institutional reputation, garnering loyalty, equipping participants with relevant employability skills, reducing job search periods, increasing job attainment likelihood, and promoting protégés personal well-being. National Research Foundation University of Pretoria Education Management and Policy Studies PhD (Education Management, Law and Policy) Unrestricted Faculty of Education SDG-04: Quality Education SDG-08: Decent work and economic growth 2023-11-17T08:54:16Z 2023-11-17T08:54:16Z 2024-05 2023 Thesis * A2024 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/93334 DOI: https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.24440695.v1 10.25403/UPresearchdata.24440695 en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Employability
Graduate unemployment
Institutional mentorship
Higher education
Mentorship
Education theses SDG-04
SDG-04: Quality education
Education theses SDG-08
SDG-08: Decent work and economic growth
Higher education and job creation in South Africa : institutional mentorship for employability
title Higher education and job creation in South Africa : institutional mentorship for employability
title_full Higher education and job creation in South Africa : institutional mentorship for employability
title_fullStr Higher education and job creation in South Africa : institutional mentorship for employability
title_full_unstemmed Higher education and job creation in South Africa : institutional mentorship for employability
title_short Higher education and job creation in South Africa : institutional mentorship for employability
title_sort higher education and job creation in south africa institutional mentorship for employability
topic UCTD
Employability
Graduate unemployment
Institutional mentorship
Higher education
Mentorship
Education theses SDG-04
SDG-04: Quality education
Education theses SDG-08
SDG-08: Decent work and economic growth
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/93334