Students from the various courses at campuses in Cape Town and Wellington converged on Bellville campus recently for an afternoon of knowledge sharing and networking with industry partners and the rest of their faculty peers.
The students were treated to pep-talks from experts like Food Consultant Fiona Byrns who gave them some practical tips on breaking into industry. She also explained how privileged the current crop of graduates are because they are exposed to learning models like Work Integrated Learning, Service Learning and Co-Operative Education.
“Back in the day programmes like WIL never existed and after you graduate you have to go and make those industry contacts by yourself. Now thanks to these programmes you have already met influencers in your industry,” she says.
The day kicked off with Applied Science staff meeting with Byrns and other stakeholders like William Jephtas from the Western Cape Government to workshop what current industry expectations are.
“Today is a collaborative effort to refresh ideas and match our curriculum to industry needs,” Dr Lalini Reddy told the gathering.
There are some programmes that work and others where there are a gap between what we are producing and what industry needs.”