Ships | The Foundation for Professional Development

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 designed a number of programmes designed to hone the skills of postgraduate students, graduate students as well as school-leavers to enhance their employability through workplace experience opportunities by placing them with FPD, PEPFAR partners and the public and private sector institutions.

Our Goals

To promote the advancement of human capacity development and provide adequate technical assistance to the different sectors throughout South Africa.

Objectives

Available Programmes

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.

International Internships

The CEE 360 Internship is an opportunity for adventurous young individuals exploring different cultures and traditions of various nations.

Fellowships

"Building a better society through education and capacity development"

Highlights of 2016

The PEPFAR Fellowship Programme that was started in 2006 places newly qualified Masters degree graduates in an AIDS service environment. The last group of Fellows was placed in October 2015 and completed their Fellowship in November 2016, the programme had placed 246 Fellows.

The SHIPS Department also rolled out two Internship Programmes funded by the Health and Welfare SETA. The objective of these programmes is to assist students to gain valuable work experience that is needed to complete their qualification and also to improve their chances of employment. In 2016 the placements for these two programmes were as follows:

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 candidates who have completed either a University degree or a registered FET/TVET qualification. The candidates also have to fall within the youth bracket.

SHIPS also managed to upscale CiTD's Internship Programme that was piloted in 2013. Initially the programme hosted 5 students, one year later, the programme hosted 26 IT students. The students do an intensive 1 week Induction programme with FPD then another 2 weeks in the stores before they start working.

The Pharmacy Assistant Learnership Programme was established in 2009, to date this programme has supported 1766 learners. Currently the post-learnership employment rate is at 95% for the Pharmacy Assistant programme, with demand for qualified students at PostBasic level exceeding the number of trained students.

In 2016, SHIPS rolled out a new Learnership for disabled learners in Business Administration. This Learnership is funded by various private sector partners. The learnership aims to alleviate poverty amongst our disabled youth, by improving their employability through Learnership opportunities. We currently have more than 300 learners enrolled in the business administration Learnership.