Introduction
In a developing country such as South Africa where the jobless rate is 23.1% of the labour force
(4.1 million) (Mail & Guardian, 2008), it is expected that university graduates should be able to find employment but there are many who do not (Ntuli, 2007). The labour market oscillates between the skills shortage on one hand and the number of graduates who are without work on the other. It seems paradoxical that a country with a high unemployment rate, has graduates without work, and that professionals need to be imported or lured to the country. This situation may arise from the fact that students lack employability skills. Behavioural (soft) skills such as those gained through curricula that embed critical outcomes such as analytical skills, teamwork, organize and manage oneself, usually deliver more competent and employable graduates (Coll &
Zegwaard, 2006).
Employers have indicated that students are often not prepared for the workplace and call on universities to produce more employable graduates (Barrie, 2006; Kember & Leung, 2005) by providing transferable skills that can be taken into the workplace (Smith, Clegg, Lawrence &
Todd, 2007). Students’ subject matter knowledge is usually satisfactory (Crebert, Bates, Bell,
Patrick & Cragnolini, 2004; Hind, Moss & McKellan, 2007) but by improving and developing their competencies such as interpersonal skills, teamwork, communication and problem solving skills, value will be added to their intellectual capabilities making them more employable (Hind et al., 2007; Maher & Graves, 2007). Employers are expecting graduates to be work-ready and demanding a range of competencies and qualities of them (Yorke & Harvey, 2005). Educational institutions should be critical of their programme offerings and question if they are nurturing the appropriate competencies and consider how best to ensure