Ships | The Foundation for Professional Development

Available Programmes

The FPD SHIPS Department was established in 2012 to draw from the expertise developed by FPD through the PEPFAR Fellowship Programme in successfully transitioning students from academia to the workplace.

The Department has a number of programmes designed to hone the skills of graduate students, Tvet students as well as school-leavers to enhance their employability through workplace experience opportunities by placing them with FPD, FPD partner organisations and the public and private sector institutions.

Internships

A period of work experience offered by an employer to give students and graduates exposure to the working environment, often within a specific industry, which relates to their field of study.

Learnerships

A vocational education and training programme to facilitate the linkage between structured learning and work experience in order to obtain a registered qualification.

Current projects

Pharmacy Assistant

The Pharmacy Assistant Learnership Programme was established in 2009, to date this programme has supported over 3225 learners at both basic and post basic level. As per the current National Skills Act, there is a high demand for qualified students at Post-Basic level as the skills need exceeds the number of trained students.

Business Administration

In 2017, SHIPS introduced a new Learnership for disabled learners in Business Administration. Various private sector partners fund this learnership that aims to alleviate poverty among our disabled youth, by improving their employability through learnership opportunities. To date we have successfully trained 481 learners.

Internship Programmes

HWSETA University Graduate Internship

HWSETA FET/TVET Graduate Internship

University Graduate Internship – 30 interns placed

FET/TVET Graduate Internship – 80 interns placed

These two programmes aim to bridge the theoretical and practical aspects of newly qualified graduates, thus making the transition from classroom to workplace easier through supervised work environment exposure. These two programmes cater for youth candidates who have completed either a university degree or a registered FET/TVET qualification.