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M U T

S P I R I T

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S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

“Dr Nofemela’s area of

specialisation is Work-

integrated Learning (WIL),

an area that the Cooperative

Education Directorate at MUT

focuses on.”

Dr Fundiswa Nofemela, Director of the Cooperative

Education Directorate

Cooperative Education Director receives her PhD

As MUT strives to continue to offer quality education

to its students, staff have embraced this mission by

registering for postgraduate and terminal degrees.

For academic staff, studying towards postgraduate

degrees means that they can now supervise

postgraduate students when their departments start

offering qualifications at this level.

Support services staff refuse to be left behind by their

academic counterparts. One such staff member is

Dr Fundiswa Nofemela, Director of the Cooperative

Education Directorate, who received her Doctor of

Education degree during the lockdown. Her area of

specialisation is Work-integrated Learning (WIL), an

area that the Cooperative Education Directorate at

MUT focuses on.

The title of her doctoral research, which she conducted

through the Cape Peninsula University of Technology,

was “The effect of Kaizen-based training on the work-

readiness of graduates from South African universities

of technology”. Dr Nofemela explained that the research

“studied the impact of the Employability Improvement

Programme (EIP), which is currently being offered

as part of the Work Readiness Module at MUT, on

students’ and graduates’ level of readiness as they

transitioned from university into the world of work”.

The study found that the intervention through the

Kaizen-based EIP supported students’ acquisition of

interpersonal skills and personal dispositions towards

work-readiness.

“However, the EIP was found wanting with respect

to developing students’ professional identification

with the field of practice, their capability to navigate

the South African labour relations context, as well

as a greater societal contribution that can be made

through the exercise of professional and ethical

work practices,” said Dr Nofemela. “The study

recommended that longer-term, more integrated and

better contextualised forms of training are necessary

in attaining work-readiness in the complex South

African work context.”