Co-operative Education Unit prepares students for industry

The Co-operative Education Unit of the Centre for Community Engagement and Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) hosted a successful Student Work Preparedness Workshop focussing on resilience, one of CPUT's Graduate Attributes.

The Centre promotes effective WIL and community engagement activities to set graduates apart regarding their employability. The series of workshops embarked on this year focused on industry essential skills students drawn from the 21st century skills set required. The Centre Director, Prof Lalini Reddy, stresses the importance of highly interactive workshops for students which promote 4IR technologies together with critical thinking, unity in diversity, cultural tolerance and human values, all essential for preparing students for the future world of work.

David Haarhoff, Project Lead said projects of this nature are imperative for enhancing essential skills once our students are released into the world of work. "As a Centre and Institution, we want our students to be well prepared for their work-integrated learning and employment purposes," Haarhoff stated. He said the dedication and commitment of students who attended the workshop were commendable, demonstrating their commitment to do better and set themselves apart in the industry.

In this workshop, the Centre collaborated with the Student Counselling, and it was facilitated by Head of Department: Student Counselling, Leanie Brits and Phorogohlo Phala, a psychologist. The joyous and pleasant atmosphere among students is worth mentioning. Students engaged and participated in many activities aligned to the theme of resilience (stress tolerance, creativity, problem-solving) within the workplace and personal leadership development.

The outcomes of the workshop included students' understanding of the concept of resilience, emotional intelligence, managing stress, exploration of the left and right brain and understanding of the brain profile, further to this, Haarhoff stated the emphasis was also placed on self-awareness as a tool to manage stress, personal resilience and identification and applying resilience strategies.

"The voice of students is critical in respect of feedback for workshops like this and it is for this reason that the Centre constantly strives to improve on service offering. The methodology utilised for such feedback is a student post-event survey where students have an opportunity to provide honest feedback, he said.

Haarhoff said the impact is important when embarking on projects and events, "I often ask myself whether projects or events align with our graduate attributes of the institution. Most importantly we have to question whether students will benefit from initiatives of this nature. I undoubtedly can say from the feedback received that our impact is worth noting."

Certificates of attendance were handed out and students could use this to enhance their CVs when applying for job opportunities.