South Africa recently announced an unemployment rate of 35% with 12,000,000 South Africans unemployed. Graduates leaving university have difficulty in finding work due to the current economy.

The GEA was developed in 2020 to enable all THENSA member institutions to track their graduates and to offer graduates with vital information and support towards employment and upskilling, and to provide institutions with real time data.

Benefits to Graduates:

  • Preparing a professional CV
  • Preparing for an interview (face to face and online)
  • Providing a database of business and industry which will give graduates opportunities to available jobs / employment as well as giving Business and Industry the opportunity to identify potential employees with specific skills.
  • Access to our SAQA aligned online entrepreneurship programme and any new programmes that graduates will benefit from to upskill and reskill themselves for new opportunities
  • Access to other online courses – over 70 IBM course available
  • Automatically update the graduate’s Linkedin profile
  • Opportunities to network with other graduates on the app.

Benefits to Institutions:

  • Access to real time data of your graduate’s employment status
  • Feedback on efficacy and relevance of the curricula
  • Opportunities to reform and review curricula that meets with requirements of business and industry via an online poll on:
    • Employment status
    • Time taken to find a job
    • Relevance of field of study to current occupation
    • Preparedness of curriculum for the particular occupation
    • Relevance of the WIL component in preparing the graduate for the job market etc.
  • Institutions will have the opportunity to identify experts in business and industry who will be able to support the institution through the adjunct professor programme
  • Access to partners in Industry to support and keep the institutions abreast of new innovations for the purposes of reviewing curricula and making it relevant in real time
  • Industry may provide opportunities for student internships, staff training, bursaries and scholarships etc.
  • Opportunities and data for the Alumni offices of the respective institutions

Benefits to Business and Industry:

  • Possible partnerships with Universities
  • Access to top graduates (profiles of graduates on the app)
  • Advertise job opportunities
  • CEOs and/or relevant staff could be involved in the adjunct professor programme