In 2008, Letseka and Maile, of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in South Africa, released a policy brief in which they asserted that the completion rate of graduates from South African universities was at 15%, at that point one of the lowest throughput rates in the world. Nearly fifteen years later, Marwala and Mpedi (2022) stated that we need to increase university graduation rates if we want to fix the country’s economy, thereby suggesting that in the fifteen years since the HSRC brief, little had improved in South Africa’s university graduate throughput rates. Many questions can be provided as to why this is still the case. In this paper, I address what is often an overlooked aspect of the conundrum, namely the development (or lack thereof) of critical soft skills required for students to succeed at university level. One of the most common observations in poor student performance is poorly developed soft skills. I argue for the increased use of coaching/mentoring as a strategy to help students/graduates enhance their soft skills which, over time, will ultimately reverse the current trend of low graduate throughput.

Authors:
Theodore Petrus, University of the Free State, South Africa

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Theodore Petrus is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at University of the Free State in South Africa

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