Pretoria - The Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership last week achieved record graduations for its postgraduate degree programmes.
The institution recorded 92 graduations for its sought-after Master of Business Administration degree and 16 for its flagship Doctor of Business Leadership programme for the class of 2021.
The graduation numbers come against the backdrop of simmering concerns about the skills scarcity faced by the country and continent.
These concerns have continued to constrain the continent from fully harnessing its opportunities for growth, academics and stakeholders have said.
“Leadership development forms a key part of the work that we do at the School of Business Leadership, and our goal is to build leaders who go beyond the norm. Our hope is that the leaders who come out of the school will go out into the world and contribute towards making significant changes in businesses, societies, and communities across the African continent,” said dean and chief executive of the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership, Professor Pumela Msweli.
PWC’s 22nd Annual Global CEO survey found that 79% of global CEOs said they were concerned about the availability of key skills. Among African business leaders, this figure jumped to 87%, with 45% noting that they were “extremely concerned”.
Of the CEOs who were extremely concerned about the availability of key skills, 65% of African CEOs (global: 55%) said the skills shortage was preventing them from innovating effectively, while 59% (global: 47%) conceded that their quality standards and customer experience were being undermined.
In addition, 54% (global: 44%) confirmed that they were missing their growth targets because of inadequate skills.
In the same completion year of 2021, 77 new Master of Business Leadership graduates were capped, while 33 old Master Business Leadership graduates made the grade.
A total of 227 students passed their Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration, at the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership, established in 1969 as an autonomous body within Unisa.
It is regarded as one of the top business schools in South Africa, and has produced more than a third of all the Masters of Business Leadership awarded by South African universities since its inception.
According to the World Economic Forum, Africa is expected to produce more workforce members between now and 2030 than the rest of the world combined.
“This is thanks to millions of the young population who are entering the world of work. Africa is forecast to churn out this considerable human capital at a time when the rest of the world is getting older,” the forum said.
The World Economic Forum estimates that 15 to 20 million young people will join the workforce every year for the next two decades. “By 2030, Africa will be home to more than a quarter of the world’s population under 25, who will make up 60% of the continent’s total population. By then, 15% of the world’s working-age population will be in Africa, and the continent’s urbanised population will exceed 700 million (more than 50%).”
Pretoria News