The event, jointly hosted by the division for Alumni Relations (AR) and the Centre for Prospective Students at SU, will have the Minister sharing his thoughts on whether higher education is doing enough to support transformation in South Africa and elaborate more on proposals for improving education, training and innovation in South Africa. Professor Arnold Schoonwinkel, vice-rector: teaching and learning of SU, will highlight the road that SU has taken to address this issue.
The National Development Plan 2030 (NDP2030), which was compiled by the National Planning Commission, which is chaired by Minister Manuel, states "in 2030 South Africa will have over 10 million university graduates with a minimum of a bachelor's degree. This takes into account the current number of graduates and targets proposed in the plan. This will be a 300% increase over a 30-year period (2001 to 2030). This will be roughly 400 000 university graduates each year.
"For the increase in the number of graduates to be meaningful, the quality of education needs to improve. Many of the new graduates between now and 2030 must be in the critical skills categories. These include engineering, actuarial science, medicine, financial management and chartered accountancy. The downward trend in the number of learners who pass mathematics must be reversed."
Bev Witten, director of alumni relations of SU, explained that the AR team decided to engage with SU alumni at the point at which practice meets research: "A space where we are able to interrogate how well equipped our graduates are to engage with the world of work. Where better to do that than in a school - testing our own teaching and learning? We also want to promote our institution to prospective students using the success stories of our alumni. These narratives will hopefully speak to how SU has equipped them to make a contribution to some of the most pressing challenges in SA and on the continent."
The event will start at 6pm (for 6.30pm) at Mondale High in Merrydale Avenue, Portlands, Mitchells Plain. For enquiries, contact the SU Alumni Relations office on +27 (0)21 808 2948 or az.ca.nus@nivram.
