Professional Development – get ready for 2025
- Wits University
Prioritise acquiring more skills instead of amassing formal qualifications, staff advised during a webinar by the Human Resource Development Unit.
The Head of the Human Resource Development Unit, Dr Chantelle Murray, presented an online talk on 26 July 2024 to engage with Wits employees about how individuals can better plan for professional development and to also highlight the resources available at the University to facilitate growth.
Wits University spends about R50 to 60 million a year on staff bursaries.
“The staff bursary is an important lever of development at the University," said Murray.
“What we are finding is that there's an incredible focus on formal qualifications and not nearly enough of a focus on skills development and professional certifications," she explained during the webinar attended by close 200 Wits staff.
According to Murray, global literature indicates a shift away from full qualifications to skills. This is due to the accelerated change in the work environment.
It is therefore crucial for staff to be reflective, intentional and honest about their needs, she said.
“You need to decide what kind of learning and development you want to invest in. Do you need a qualification? Do you need to go on a particular skills program? What skills programme? Are you sure that that's what you need. And then, of course, what is the applicable funding that's available for that?"
In the short-course arena Murray invited staff to explore Coursera, an online learning platform that offers more than 8000 courses. These courses are free to staff and provide a flexibility to register at any time of the year – news that was welcomed by staff who have not yet engaged in learning in 2024. As the internal coordinator of skills development at the University, the HRDU also provides Wits specific training and has recently completed a project centralising all internal Wits training. This can be found on the Wits People page, under the Learning and Development. Although the central repository is a work in progress, it plays an important role in helping employees access the various staff training presented by Faculties and HRDU.
The presentation also covered university jobs in the age of artificial intelligence, the individual professional development plans which are being piloted at the Wits Business School with the view of rolling them throughout the University.
The webinar was interactive with 30-minutes dedicated to responding to staff questions. ?Responses to questions that could not be answered during the webinar are available h?ere??. Please note that the recording and written responses are only accessible via the intranet.
This engagement is part of efforts championed by the University's Communications Office, working with several stakeholders at the University such as the Wits Wellness Committee, to promote greater awareness of staff benefits, wellness and inclusion.
DID YOU KNOW
The University has an Employee Assist Programme? Provided by Life Health Solutions, the programme? supports mental health, financial wellbeing, physical health and offers legal advice, to make a few services. Read more?.