Industry Skills Development & Training PASA/MAPPP Seta Internship Programme

Goals and Objectives of the Programme

The publishing industry recognises the need to expand its current employment profile and has committed itself to introducing new blood and perspectives through the implementation of a black empowerment internship programme for graduates.

The PASA Internship Programme is aimed at unemployed black graduates wishing to gain entry into the book publishing industry. It includes a practical workplace experiential learning component and a theoretical learning component which will be integrated to provide interns with a solid foundation of skills for employment in the book publishing industry.

The internship primarily focuses on the development of key skills needed within the publishing industry and is structured in such a way so as to maximise learning opportunities for interns.

In the long term it is hoped that such a transfer of skills will also improve the quality of books published in South Africa, contributing to transforming South Africa s reading culture and developing our multi lingual society in the academic, economic, scientific and cultural spheres. A particular contribution can be made to increasing and developing publishing in African languages.

Stakeholders of the Programme

MAPPP Seta: Media, Advertising, Publishing, Printing and Packaging Sector Education Training Authority. (www.mappp-seta.co.za)

MAPPP Seta is an Authority established in terms of section 9(1) of the Skills Development Act 1988. The prescribed core business of the MAPPP Seta is the Development and implementation of a Sector Skills Plan by identifying and developing Learnerships and Skills Programmes by which Discretionary Grants are allocated to fund the Internship Programme.

PASA: The Publisher Association of South Africa

As the Industry body PASA acts as the custodian of the project and undertakes co-ordination of the necessary components of the programme to ensure the successful completion of the project.

Publishing Houses: Registered PASA Members

Individual Publishing Houses provide the practical workplace experience.

Monitoring Academic (MA): Accredited and Recognised Institution

The MA in consultation with the custodian (PASA) finalise the required deliverables and assessment criteria to ensure that current industry standards are applied, and that the training is of a regulated quality.

Interns: Unemployed, Black Graduates The Interns are committed to the Goals and objectives of the Internship Programme and the willingness to learn by way of successfully meeting the requirements of the learning outcomes at the end of the programme.

Formal Training

University of Pretoria and Witwatersrand was the appointed Training Provider during the 2005 pilot project and appointed for the 2006 Programme.

As part of the greater Internship Programme the training programme allows new entrants into the publishing industry to achieve and ensure their employability and productivity, thereby improving their employment opportunities.

The formal training is aimed at learners participating in the MAPPP Seta/PASA Internship Programme. It aims to enhance the quality of education and training in skills regarded as scarce in the publishing industry, including, sales and marketing skills, as well as copy editing and proof-reading skills, by ensuring that both practical and underpinning theoretical elements are incorporated.

The formal training is designed to give the interns a context into which they can place their practical experience and to augment the varying experiences that interns are likely to encounter in real work situations.

Success Stories

The success of the 2005 Internship pilot project marked another crucial step in the transformation of the Publishing Industry of South Africa. Of the first 30 Interns recruited in 2005, 25 (84%) have been offered permanent and extended contract placements within the Publishing Industry.