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“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.”