Enabling articulation between higher education and the workplace through public private partnerships in the footwear and the leather sector
Authors:   , Sibhensana Bertha 
Published: October 2022

One of the key challenges facing the South African Post School Education and Training (PSET) system is a lack of learning pathways to allow for access and progression along all the levels of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for a population with diverse educational needs. The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) in partnership with the Durban University of Technology (DUT) conducted a study to investigate enablers and barriers to the articulation of students within and across institutions comprising the PSET system and the workplace. Three articulation scenarios formed the basis of the study, namely developed, emerging and latent scenarios. This study which was drawn from the larger SAQA-DUT research partnership focussed on the latent scenario, one in which articulation has been contemplated but the process was either aborted or never implemented. The aim of the study is to promote social development by building articulation pathways for learning and career development in social entrepreneurship in the Footwear and Leather sector through Public Private Partnerships. These partnerships were established as Centres of Footwear Entrepreneurship (CoFEs), with the intention to provide education and training that produces graduates with the skills required in the footwear industry and footwear entrepreneurs to grow the sector. The main objective of this study was to explore the extent to which CoFEs promote social entrepreneurship and articulation within and across PSET institutions and the workplace for social development. The study was qualitative in nature and adopted the case study method and participatory action research approach. The study sample comprised of representatives from CoFEs, two government departments, CoFE students and the director of the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE). The research sample was selected purposively because of their relevance to the case that was explored. Primary data was collected through individual interviews and focus group discussions; and secondary data was collected from the Centre of Social Entrepreneurship and a review of government documents related to the establishment and management of CoFEs. Interviews were recorded and later transcribed verbatim for the purpose of analysis. Data was analysed through themes generated from participants’ responses. Findings from the study revealed that CoFEs opened pathways to engage the Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) youth into education and training that promotes further learning and employability. Workers in the Footwear and Leather sector were also given a chance to articulate from the workplace to institutions of education and training. The study identified the following barriers to articulation for students pursuing a career in footwear: inadequate funding for students and programmes; challenges in securing places for experiential learning; limited spaces and sector specific programmes on offer; a lack of trainers with sector specific education; programmes delivered on a full-time basis were not ideal for prospective working students; the industry offers programmes that are not accredited; and unclear Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) processes to engage the uncertified graduates from the industry. A lack of sector specific programmes and inadequate funding for students were highlighted as the key challenges to articulation for students studying at the CoFEs. It was further noted that inadequate student funding had an effect on the success rate of the training programmes. This study explored the extent to which the education and training delivered through CoFEs promoted social entrepreneurship among graduates and found that students indicated that they were not familiar with the term social entrepreneurship and preferred to use the term entrepreneurship in their engagement with the researcher. The study revealed that an entrepreneurship module was part of the footwear programme offered at the University of Technology CoFE, but the students indicated that the module had not been taught to them. This submission was contrary to what was noted by the trainers. The Industry CoFE disclosed that although it is supposed to promote entrepreneurship, the CoFE was currently focussing their training on producing graduates to be employed by the industry as a way to address the skills shortage in the footwear sector. The trainers and representatives of CoFEs revealed that graduates preferred to engage in entrepreneurship after gaining adequate technical, interpersonal and managerial skills to run a successful enterprise. The students shared the same view held by the CoFE personnel. Intrapreneurship was seen as the most ideal form of entrepreneurship that graduates would engage in. Findings from this study reveal that the training offered at CoFEs had not adequately prepared graduates for entrepreneurship. Graduates preferred to work first before engaging in any form of entrepreneurship. Centres of Footwear Entrepreneurship were established through a partnership involving the industry, government and institutions of higher learning. The study noted that a good working relationship between the industry and government was prevalent in establishing CoFEs. The public-private partnership worked well during the planning phase, but challenges surfaced during the implementation phase. These challenges were identified as failure by a government institution to provide the anticipated funding; failure by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to collaborate with the industry in curriculum design; poor dissemination of information among partners and mistrust between the industry and a University of Technology (UoT). Overall, articulation remains a challenge in the Footwear and Leather sector. The CoFE project is at its infancy stage and it is yet to be established how CoFEs will promote the opening of learning pathways that allow for students’ progression to other institutions comprising the PSET system. Articulation from the training centres to the workplace was accomplished as all the graduates from the Industry CoFE were able to secure employment in footwear companies within the KwaZulu-Natal footwear cluster. It is yet to be established whether graduates from the UoT CoFE will manage to transition to the workplace given that there are very few footwear companies in Gauteng province where the UoT CoFE is situated. Centres of Footwear Entrepreneurship have not given graduates adequate entrepreneurial skills to engage in social entrepreneurship. The barriers to articulation and social entrepreneurship outlined in this study indicate that partnerships between government departments, institutions of higher learning and industry need to be strengthened. The study further recommends that articulation and RPL should be institutionalised through setting up an articulation and RPL office at each post school education and training institution. The study developed an education and training framework for articulation and social entrepreneurship within Public Private Partnerships to address some of the challenges in the post school education and training system of South Africa.