Abstract:

The South African higher education system is under pressure to provide a tertiary education, within high youth unemployment conditions, that is acceptable to the employers. Institutions of higher learning need to adopt new and innovative measures to ensure that their graduates enter into the labour market with the greatest chance of obtaining employment. One of the new measures instituted by the University of Johannesburg in South Africa is a career focused Diploma in Accountancy which replaced a National Diploma in Accountancy. The innovation in this diploma is the integration of the theoretical subject matter of two of the subjects with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This implementation has been underpinned by integrating ICT in simulated work integrated learning (WIL) lesson plans within the curriculum. Two subjects in the diploma, financial accounting and cost accounting, were re-curriculated as Subject Integrated ICT (SIICT) offerings. The outcomes, as shown through empirical research, has resulted in students with better developed graduateness attributes and enhanced employability factors. Research has shown that the students of the diploma complete their studies in a shorter period of time, and are employed quicker than the comparative National Diploma students were. This shorter study-to-employment cycle is empirically linked to the SIICT subjects and occurred despite a rising youth unemployment rate in South Africa.

Keywords:

Accounting education, Information and Communication technologies in Accounting, Employability, Graduateness, work integrated learning.