A partnership-based model for embedding employability in urban planning education. Issue 1 (1st January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Blair, Neale; Manda, Mtafu
• Is Part Of: Urban, planning and transport research. Volume 4:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 46
• Page End: 63
• Publication Date: 2016-01-01
• Subjects: Urban planning -- employability -- partnership -- emerging economy -- curriculum design; City planning -- Periodicals; Cities and towns -- Growth -- Periodicals; Urban renewal -- Periodicals; Cities and towns -- Research -- Periodicals; Urban transportation -- Periodicals; Cities and towns -- Growth; Cities and towns -- Research; City planning; Urban renewal; Urban transportation; Periodicals; 307.116
• DOI: 10.1080/21650020.2016.1145070
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2165-0020

Abstract

Abstract: This paper proposes a partnership-based model for embedding employability in urban planning education. The model is based on the author's experiences of implementing an international project which supported the development of employability skills in urban and regional planning education in Malawi. Since independence, urban planners have typically trained outside the country, attending university in the UK and other Commonwealth countries. More recently, the paradigm has shifted towards in-country education delivered by academic staff cognisant with the opportunities and challenges of development in Malawi. There remains, though, a gap between graduate knowledge of the subject and the skills necessary to pursue a professional career in the sector. Although there is no consensus yet on the meaning of employability in the literature, lessons from the project indicate that academic–public–private collaboration helps incorporate in curriculum skills that employers anticipate. Applicability of these principles is however context dependent, particularly in the emerging economy context where institutional capacity may be less developed compared to elsewhere.