An investigation of industry expectations of industrial engineering graduates: A case study of graduate development programmes in South African universities

摘要

During 2008 and 2009, post-apartheid South Africa and the global community experiencedmajor economic turbulence, bringing into focus the need for skills development across themajor South African economic sectors to resuscitate its failing economy. The solutions layin organisations re-evaluating their current operational strategies by streamlining theirorganisations, and adopting aggressive, lean, and cost-saving approaches to remaincompetitive. The study introduced the need to address this issue by exploring theenvironments that play a role in the quality of life in South Africa. A qualitative andquantitative data collection and analysis approach was used to establish the skills gapbetween the business market and training institutes, in an effort to alleviate the negativeeffects of the current state of the economy. The need for skills growth and for cost-cutting,cost-saving, and an optimisation skill – a skill descriptively and applicably seen in industrialengineering – is apparent. The role of graduate institutions in facilitating the growth ofhuman capital development in the work environment has become a critical factor in SouthAfrica, aimed at improving the productivity and economic growth of the country. In thispaper, the focus is on three main areas of discussion: the institutional environment ofstudents; exploring the student-lecturer relationship; and the work environment. The studyhighlights the influence these three environments have on industrial engineering skills andcompetencies attained by industrial engineering university student graduates, and how thisultimately creates a way for the South African economy to grow.