Taking stock: Seven years of Conservation Skills Development and Training on Telperion, Mpumalanga

Abstract

The University of South Africa’ s (Unisa) National Diploma in Nature Conservation (NDNTR) is a vocational diploma and its curricula content requires work-integrated learning (WIL). The essence of WIL, is that it provides the opportunity for students to acquire and apply knowledge in workplace contexts, with the idea that they are work ready and more employable upon graduation. The greatest challenge in providing this workplace context is the lack of willing and qualified industry mentors to supply the need and demand of this WIL component. In an effort to address this, between seven and ten, one-week long excursions; funded by Ernest Oppenheimer & Son (EOS) and hosted by Unisa; are held per year on Telperion. Each focuses on a WIL curricula learning outcome and always incorporates various aspects of the critical cross field outcomes. There has been a constant and steady growth in the number of students positively affected by the partnership between EOS and Unisa, through this formalized WIL excursion programme, with up to 44% of the 2014 graduates having come through this programme.