scholarly journals The Skills Gap as Observed between IS Graduates and the Systems Development Industry: A South African Experience

10.28945/2571 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsje Scott ◽  
Robert Alger ◽  
Simon Pequeno ◽  
Nicky Sessions

This paper discusses the results of an investigation into the skills gap between Information Systems (IS) graduates at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the South African Systems Development Industry. Three objectives were defined for this study. Firstly to measure the alignment between the level of skills possessed by students and the level of skills demanded by development companies. Secondly to identify and compare the most prominent specific skills that industry requires with the skills of students and thirdly to determine whether the students obtained the skills directly through UCT. The study revealed that there was alignment between the importance rating of companies and the skills of students in some areas, but not in others. Although correlation exists between the specific skills and technologies that industry requires and those which students possess, knowledge of certain technologies is lacking from the formal IS curriculum.

10.28945/2499 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Hart

At the University of Cape Town, females and students disadvantaged under the previous South African apartheid education system are under-represented in Information Systems (I.S.) classes. This research shows that these are also the groups most ignorant about I.S. at the school-leaving stage. After being informed about the discipline through a small intervention, a significant increase in enthusiasm for majoring in and being employed in I.S. occurred. This should result in a better educational fit and greater enrolment of these groups in I.S., and reduce some switching to I.S. from other subjects at a later stage. The key influencing sources for university students’ study decisions are also examined, and it is evident that a different approach is needed for each group in order to maximize the number of quality I.S. graduates.


Author(s):  
Andrew Kerr ◽  
Martin Wittenberg

Abstract The Post-Apartheid Labour Market Series (palms) is a compilation of microdata from 69 household surveys conducted in South Africa. The dataset and the code used to create the data are publicly available from DataFirst, a data repository at the University of Cape Town (www.doi.org/10.25828/gtr1-8r20). To harmonise the data required understanding the differences across the surveys, which has generated new knowledge about the South African labour market.


Author(s):  
Hein Viljoen

Breyten Breytenbach is the foremost poet among the "Sestigers," a prolific painter, and also a controversial public figure. He was born in Bonnievale, South Africa, studied in Cape Town and went into voluntary exile in Paris after marrying Ngo Thi Huang Lien, a Vietnamese woman (also known as Yolande). To date he has published nineteen volumes of poetry, several collections of essays, seven parts of an autobiography, two highly controversial plays, and two novels. His surrealist-type work is inspired by a Zen-Buddhist sense of the mindful continuity underlying mutable existence. An uncanny ability to transform and permutate words and to bend language to his own will characterises his work. After studying at the Michaelis School of Art at the University of Cape Town, Breytenbach travelled to Europe, working in different places before settling as a painter in Paris in 1962. He lived in voluntary exile in Paris, as the South African government refused to give his "non-white" wife a visa. He made his debut in 1964 with the poetry collection Die ysterkoei moet sweet [The Iron Cow Must Sweat] and a collection of uncannily flavored short prose works, Katastrofes [Catastrophes] (both awarded the APB Prize in 1966). These works were highly original and innovative, and made use of surrealist techniques to depict a reaching out towards Zen satori.


1960 ◽  
Vol 64 (597) ◽  
pp. 507-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. R. Jamison ◽  
R. J. Lane

The 1,158th lecture to be given before the Society, “Engines for Supersonic Air Liners” by Dr. R. R. Jamison, B.Sc., F.R.Ae.S., A.R.I.C. and Mr. R. J. Lane, Diploma of Graduate Studies (Birmingham), G.I.Mech.E., of Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd., was given on 24th March 1960, at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1 Birdcage Walk, London, S.W.I. The Chair was taken by Air Commodore F. R. Banks, C.B., O.B.E., C.G.I.A., F.R.Ae.S., Hon.F.I.A.S., M.I.Mech.E., M.Inst.Pet., Vice-President of the Society.Introducing the lecturers, Air Commodore Banks said that after receiving his education at the South African College and the University of Cape Town, Dr. Jamison joined Rolls-Royce in 1937 and had remained with that Company until 1950, when he joined Bristol Aero-Engines Ltd.–now Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd. He was Assistant Chief Engineer and Head of the Ram-jet Department and since 1950 had been working on ram-jet development. He and his team were regarded as the specialists in this country–and probably in Europe– on controllable ram-jets. Mr. Lane, joint author with Dr. Jamison of the lecture, had graduated from the University of Birmingham and had served his apprenticeship at the Royal Ordnance Factory before joining Bristols. He was now working on ram-jet dynamics and gas-dynamics of ram-jets with Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd.


Author(s):  
Tor Krever

Abstract Dennis Davis is Judge of the High Court of South Africa, Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court, and Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Cape Town. In this wide-ranging conversation with Tor Krever, he reflects on his political and intellectual trajectory—from early encounters with Marx to anti-apartheid activism to a leading position in the South African judiciary—and his lifelong commitment to a radical left politics.


10.28945/2681 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsje Scott ◽  
Alexander Zadirov ◽  
Sean Feinberg ◽  
Ruwanga Jayakody

Software testing is crucial to ensure that systems of good quality are developed in industry and for this reason it is necessary to investigate the extent to which there is an alignment of software testing skills of Information Systems students at the University of Cape Town and industry practices in South Africa. A number of criteria were identified as the basis for this investigation. These criteria were used to examine the data collected from companies in the software testing industry and students at the University of Cape Town. Significant differences were found between software testing skills required by industry and those claimed by students, particularly with regard to the tests being used and the percentage of time spent on testing. This study should be seen as work in progress to investigate current practice in industry that might inform future research to enhance curricula.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Jared McDonald

Dr Jared McDonald, of the Department of History at the University of the Free State (UFS) in South Africa, reviews As by fire: the end of the South African university, written by former UFS vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen.    How to cite this book review: MCDONALD, Jared. Book review: Jansen, J. 2017. As by Fire: The End of the South African University. Cape Town: Tafelberg.. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South, [S.l.], v. 1, n. 1, p. 117-119, Sep. 2017. Available at: <http://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=18>. Date accessed: 12 Sep. 2017.   This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


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