- Title
- Graduate attributes: A comparison between public and private higher education commerce students in South Africa
- Creator
- Bissig, Abigail https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8316-629X
- Subject
- Education, Higher -- South Africa
- Subject
- Private universities and colleges
- Date Issued
- 2020-01
- Date
- 2020-01
- Type
- Masters theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/19683
- Identifier
- vital:43166
- Description
- In order to handle the capacity shortfall of state-funded universities in developing economies, governments with limited public resources often establish systems and regulations that enable private organisations to provide equivalent qualifications. As such, South Africa (SA) has seen a large growth in the number of registered private higher education institutions (HEIs) offering alternatives to students who are seeking higher education qualifications but do not meet public universities admission criteria. The emergence of private HEIs has resulted in a different type of learning environment. These institutions provide smaller classes than their public counterparts and a faculty which often consists of both part-time and full-time retired public HEIs lecturers and industry experts, in an environment that is more practical, and less research focused. Due to the substantial differences between the public and private higher education sector mandate, the educational quality produced by private HEIs is often a contentious subject among academics. Employer perspectives are that most graduates do not have the necessary work-ready skills to successfully integrate into the workforce. While various studies have attempted to define and measure graduate employability, limited research differentiates between public and private HEI graduates, and even fewer studies compare the level of graduate employability between these two sectors. In an attempt to determine whether any statistically significant differences exist between the graduate attributes of public and private higher education commerce students in SA, this study makes use of the Graduate Skills and Attributes Scale (GSAS). The GSAS clusters eight graduate skills and behaviours into the three holistic, overarching attitudinal domains of personal and intellectual development. These eight graduate attributes include interactive skills, problem-solving and decision-making skills, continuous learning orientation, enterprising skills, presenting and applying information skills, goal-directed behaviour, ethical and responsible behaviour, and analytical thinking skills. Using a quantitative approach, questionnaires were distributed to a total of 416 respondents, consisting of 351 public and 65 private higher education commerce students within SA. The sample consisted of students enrolled in their final year of study, through either a public university or registered private HEI situated within SA, completing a Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) accredited NQF 7 Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) degree through contact mode of study. After the data collection, independent samples t-tests were used to compare the graduate attributes of the two sectors. The study concludes that higher levels of interactive skills and continuous learning orientation were present among students attending private HEIs, while the remaining six graduate attributes indicated no significant differences between the two sectors. The results of this study provide valuable information to HEIs, students, industry and government, as it measures and compares the level of graduate quality produced by public and private HEIs within SA.
- Description
- Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2020
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (263 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Management and Commerce
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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UFH Department of Business Management
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | BISSIG A_201406486_MCOM BUS MNGT.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |