Fireside Conversations
upcoming
A future-focused summit on work-integrated learning, graduate employability, AI readiness, workplace learning, skills gaps, curriculum alignment, and stronger university-industry partnerships.
About the event
As industries continue to evolve faster than higher education curriculums, the need for meaningful workplace learning, future-focused skills, and stronger university-industry partnerships has become impossible to ignore.
From internships and apprenticeships to digital skills, AI readiness, entrepreneurship, and authentic assessment, this summit explores how institutions can produce graduates who are not only employable, but adaptable, resilient, and ready to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Through thought-provoking discussions, delegates will unpack the reality that WIL has since left the nice-to-have building and entered an era where graduates must be prepared for jobs that do not yet exist, workplaces that are more tech-enabled, and employers who want experience for entry-level roles.
The summit will spotlight innovative models of Work-Integrated Learning that bridge theory and practice, helping students convert academic knowledge into workplace confidence.
Whether you are an educator, employer, policymaker, or student success champion, this event offers fresh insights, collaborative solutions, and practical reassurance that employability is more than holding qualifications with impressive titles.
Summit identity
A dedicated visual identity for the current Work-Integrated Learning and Graduate Employability summit.
Themes
Confirmed speakers
Meet the higher education, industry, career development, and workforce leaders contributing insight to this year's summit.
Nottingham Trent University
Works across employer engagement and placements, connecting students, institutions, and employers around meaningful work-based learning.
Nottingham Trent University, UK
WACE / Bahçeşehir University
Brings international co-operative and work-integrated education perspective through WACE and university career centre leadership.
World Association for Co-operative and Work-Integrated Education; Bahçeşehir University, Turkey
University of Johannesburg
Leads shared services in psychological services and career development, supporting student readiness and transition into work.
Centre for Psychological Services and Career Development, University of Johannesburg
University of Cape Town
Career services leader focused on connecting graduates, employers, and institutional employability strategies.
University of Cape Town (UCT)
Bowmans
Talent acquisition leader bringing employer-side insight into graduate recruitment and workplace expectations.
Bowmans
Central University of Technology
Higher education leader focused on research, innovation, engagement, and institutional impact.
Central University of Technology
The American Chamber of Commerce South Africa
Business chamber executive connecting industry priorities, investment, and employer perspectives.
AmCham South Africa
Central University of Technology
WIL and industry liaison specialist focused on practical learning pathways and institutional partnerships.
Central University of Technology (CUT)
SA Board for People Practices
Research and assurance leader bringing people-practice standards and professional body insight.
SABPP
Swiss-South African Cooperation Initiative
Leads work at the intersection of cooperation, skills development, and employability support.
SSACI
LabourNet
Transformation executive with practical perspective on workforce realities and organisational change.
LabourNet
World Employment Confederation
Regional representative bringing labour market, employment services, and continental workforce perspectives.
World Employment Confederation
Vaal University of Technology
Director of Student Academic Development Support and Work-Integrated Learning at Vaal University of Technology.
Vaal University of Technology (VUT)
Stellenbosch University
Manager of Experiential Learning at Stellenbosch University.
Stellenbosch University
Why attend
Learn from industry experts and academic leaders who have been there, done that, and cracked codes.
Participate in interactive sessions on skills gaps, workforce realities, and how WIL models have evolved from nice-to-have academic add-ons into powerful engines for economic inclusion and innovation.
Access practical resources and thinking for WIL design, implementation, assessment, internships, employability, and curriculum alignment.
Discover how to prepare graduates for jobs that do not even exist yet.
Build partnerships that could lead to internships, research collaborations, funding opportunities, and stronger employer engagement.
Get a sneak peek into digital skills, soft skills, power skills, and the capabilities that will matter in the future of work.
Explore how AI is changing recruitment faster than students can update their LinkedIn profiles.
Hear success stories and cautionary tales from international case studies on WIL programmes and industry partnerships.
Target audience
Agenda
Speed icebreakers and name-tag networking.
Chairperson sets the tone on why graduates need WIL more than ever.
It takes a village to launch a career: education providers, employers, communities, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and students working together.
A humorous but honest conversation about misaligned expectations, communication breakdowns, and stronger partnerships.
Fuel for the trenches.
BAU Company Integrated Learning: companies design and teach credit-bearing university courses embedded directly into the curriculum.
Adaptability, critical thinking, communication, problem solving, continuous learning, and the gap between academic achievement and workplace readiness.
Building careers with duct tape and side hustles: flexible income streams, shifting degree value, digital literacy, branding, taxation, and financial uncertainty.
Purposeful mingling with a side of satire.
Graduate destination tracking, predictive analytics, data-informed interventions, and ethical considerations.
Preparing graduates for the robot takeover: emerging technologies, labour market intelligence, problem solving, and human skills that remain difficult to automate.
Recharge.
Preparing students for international, remote, and cross-cultural work environments.
Key takeaways and Day 2 teaser.
Quick recap with a highlights reel.
Embedding career readiness across curriculum design, assessment, learning outcomes, and student experiences.
Preparing graduates for multiple careers across a lifetime and cultivating lifelong employability.
Networking or strategic napping - your choice.
Assessed work-like experience, institution-wide employability integration, work-like cultures, and the risks of scaling frameworks.
Curriculum influence, future skills anticipation, and a truly integrated education-to-employment ecosystem.
Connect and collaborate.
Designing learning across multiple employers and experiences, portfolio-based learning, quality assurance, and credentialing fragmented experiences.
Ethical dilemmas, blurred boundaries, toxic workplace dynamics, confidentiality, scope of practice, safety, exploitation, and unpaid labour.
Last chance for caffeine and connections.
Academic integrity violations, AI tools, authentic assessment, institutional culture, and employer expectations during recruitment and onboarding.
Downloads
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