A major motivation for students of all ages to enter tertiary education is to improve
their access to the job market and increase the likelihood of success in their career
trajectories (McCune, Hounsell, Christie, Cree, and Tett 2010). This is particularly
relevant in the South African context, which unfortunately claims an unemployment
rate of 25 per cent (Statistics South Africa 2013). Universities therefore have to
balance their broader purpose of producing well-rounded citizens with meeting the
demands of the labour market.
The University of South Africa (Unisa) is an Open Distance Learning (ODL) institution
with more than 320 000 students (Unisa2012). Unisa sees employability as an
indicator of student success and the institution’s ability to provide qualifications
that are appropriate for the ever-changing demands of the globalised knowledge
economy. This article reports on the 2011 graduate exit survey, focussing on the
employability and graduate attributes of the 2009 graduates. Whilst this article
focusses on employability of Unisa students, it also provides insight into how the
complex phenomenon of graduate employability can be studied in the broader
global ODL environment. The conceptual framework developed for this study and
discussed later is applicable to both local and global higher education contexts. The
data provides insight into the black box of student employability and student needs
for support to increase their employability.