An Overview of South African Human Resources Development

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This book provides an overview of human resources development (HRD) in South Africa. It focuses on three institutional subsystems of the larger South African social system that play an important role in human resource development: the youth labour market, the world of work, and the national system of science and innovation. The analysis shows how, in the South African context, contradiction and incoherence characterise the interactions between institutions in each of these three institutional subsystems. The author argues that policy co-ordination and implementation need to be 'joined up' to achieve a more effective interlocking of institutions—such as the improved dovetailing within the youth labour market of processes of acquiring a Grade 12 education and acquiring a job. The analysis concludes by arguing that the skills problem in South Africa is located not only at the high-skill end but also in intermediate and low-skill needs. Each of these skill bands is experiencing severe HRD problems that require urgent resolution.

List of tables and figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Conceptual framework
Solutions to institutional incoherence: joined-up policy
Relevance to South Africa
Key features of HRD in South Africa

2. The youth labour market
Key trends of the supply side
Growth of private provision
Systemic inefficiencies
Inefficiencies in the public higher education system
Skewed graduate outputs by field and level of study
Inefficiency in the FET college system
Key trends of the demand side

3. The world of work
Governments macro-economic achievements
Contractionary effects
Training in SA enterprises

4. The national system of science and innovation
The partial success of South Africas industrial policy
South Africas performance against international benchmarks
Weakening science base
Conclusion

5. HRD and the skills crisis
The skills deficit: a multi-pronged approach
A shortage of high skills
The importance of intermediate skills
Low skills
Multi-faceted policy solutions

References