Organisation of Work Integrated Learning for Engineering Students in South

In October 2007, the South African Minister of Education published The Higher Education

Qualifications Framework in terms of section 3 of the Higher Education Act (Act No. 101

of 1997). In this framework, she emphasised that “separate and parallel qualifications structures for universities have hindered the articulation of programmes and transfer of students between programmes and higher education institutions”. She also stated that

… this new qualifications framework has been designed to meet demanding challenges facing the higher education system in the 21st century. It will guide higher education institutions in the development of programmes and qualifications that provide graduates with intellectual capabilities and skills that can both enrich society and empower themselves and enhance economic and social development.

In this document (HEQF, 2007), the context of the new framework is explained, as is the fact that it replaced the following policy documents:

• A Qualification Structure for Universities in South Africa – NATED Report 116 (99/02)

• General Policy for Technikon Instructional Programmes– I\JATED Report 150 (97/01)

• Formal Technikon Instructional Programmes in the RSA – NATED Report 151 (99/01)

• Revised Qualifications Framework for Educators in Schooling, in Norms and

Standards for Educators (Government Gazette No. 20844, February, 2000). In

addition, the Criteria for the Recognition and Evaluation of Qualifications for Employment in Education will be amended to ensure consistency with this policy.

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The Higher Education Qualification Framework was later revised and was replaced by the Higher Education Qualification Sub-Framework (HEQSF, 2013). The policy provides an

opportunity for the integration of all higher education qualifications into a national framework. It also facilitates the articulation of qualifications and enables students to move from one programme to another with ease and efficiency.

The revised framework (HEQSF, 2013) “recognizes three broad qualification progression routes”, namely, vocational, professional and general routes and introduces two qualification types in addition to the existing nine types. Based on this framework, “WIL is characteristic of vocational and professionally-oriented qualifications, and may be incorporated into programmes at all levels of the HEQSF. In the HEQSF, WIL may take various forms including simulated learning, work-directed theoretical learning, problem- based learning, project-based learning and workplace-based learning”. For workplace-based learning, responsibility for the placement of students into WIL programmes now lies on the shoulders of the institutions.

The framework has eleven qualification types mapped onto the ten levels of the NQF. The framework comprises the following qualification types:

Undergraduate • Higher certificate • Advanced certificate • Diploma • Advanced diploma • Bachelor's degree Postgraduate • Postgraduate diploma • Bachelor honours degree • Master’s degree

• Professional master’s degree • Doctoral degree

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• Professional doctorate

These qualifications accommodate all the current higher education qualifications. A WIL component is recommended for qualifications which are vocational or industry oriented, such as 360-credit diplomas, advanced certificates and higher certificates. There is also a possibility of including such a component in professional bachelor degrees. If the WIL component is in the form of workplace-based learning, then it must “be appropriately structured, properly supervised and assessed” (HEQSF, 2013).

The HEQSF document indicates that vocational qualifications have a strong orientation towards specific contexts of application and are “designed around the practical knowledge that is required to perform more defined vocational roles together with some applied theory”, while professional qualifications prepare students for professional practice “through an appropriate balance between pure and applied theory and practical experience”.

Completion of a 240-credit diploma which is mainly based on the theoretical and educational aspects of training should require a successful completion of WIL component by a provider or recognition of prior learning for those who are working in engineering environments related to the diploma.

The purpose of the professional bachelor’s degree, according to the HEQSF document, is … to prepare students for professional training, post-graduate studies or professional practice in a wide range of careers. Therefore it emphasises general principles and theory in conjunction with procedural knowledge in order to provide students with a thorough grounding in the knowledge, theory, principles and skills of the profession or career concerned and the ability to apply these to professional or career contexts. For that reason, the degree programme allows for a WIL component.

WIL has, in various formats, been a feature of many professional qualifications. Some professional bodies such as the ECSA and the HPCSA have special training requirements in the form of work placement, in addition to other forms of WIL such as project-based learning and problem-based learning.

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In South Africa at present, WIL forms a part of the National Diploma in engineering fields of study. The ECSA, which is empowered by the Engineering Profession Act, 2000 (Act 46 of 2000), conducts "accreditation investigations" (visits) at educational institutions and places a lot of importance on the WIL component of the National Diploma and the methods by which WIL is implemented.

In the past, students and universities were responsible for finding placements in industry for the WIL component, while universities would encourage industry members to visit their institutions and interview students for this purpose. However, in the light of the HEQSF document, this practice has to change in South Africa, as according to this document, responsibility for finding work placements for students rests solely with the provider institution.