Travel mates for long haul

THE combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and the acceleration of technology has not only disrupted, but also changed, the world of work forever.

With it, universities in equipping young job-seekers, has to adapt too.

Instead of seeing institutions of higher learning as temporary stopovers en route to a career, young professionals should embrace them as centres of lifelong learning to which they can constantly return to equip themselves for ever-evolving career challenges.

In South Africa, unemployment is at an all-time high, with job-seeking youth – at a staggering 63.2%.

There is also increasing evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic hit young people hard, leaving them more anxious, and depressed than any other age

group. A contributing reason is the stress of adapting to remote or online learning – and diminishing jobs.

Spare a thought for the matrics of 2020. They had to sacrifice so much. Come 2021, and for most of them, the “first-year experience” was equally anticlimactic. Effective orientation of first-time entry students remains a crucial aspect of their transition to higher education and provides a firm foundation for their learning, development, and success. This is especially true of the South African higher education system, where around 70% of the student cohort are “first-generation” students – the first in their households to study at a higher education institution.

The pandemic has created a context in higher education that is unpredictable and uncertain. It is clear that online learning will remain a large part of tertiary education – even post-pandemic. But it can never completely replace face-to-face tuition.

The digital future emphasises the importance of developing skills that would never be substituted by machines, but be increasingly vital to use in tandem with evolving technology. Skills such as leadership, empathy, critical thinking, and creativity. Imparting these “human” skills requires human interaction.

While on campus, students get a glimpse of an ideal society, based on mutual respect and tolerance and guided by social justice.

In this way, we not only produce good workers, but good citizens.

Universities need to instil a culture of care in their students. If there could be a positive consequence of the pandemic, it is this: The overriding sense that, despite divisions of the past, we are all currently facing similar challenges, sparking a true sense of empathy with those around us.

As institutions of higher learning, we need to leverage this momentum of care and ensure we make a real difference in our societies post-pandemic.

What is needed is acquiring relevant knowledge for new types of jobs, for example through digital upskilling, and developing transferable skills, such as critical thinking and creativity. It is often these skills that make people more versatile, resilient, and adaptable.

Universities can and should play a much bigger role in upskilling and lifelong learning than they do today.

This requires collaboration with industry partners, staying abreast of developments and training needs in different sectors, and constantly initialising and adapting training courses to fulfil these needs.

This means that we will no longer be simply an “alma mater” that will soon form part of their past, but a present and constant travel partner on the road to work success.