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The Western Cape Department of Health (WCDoH), in its Provincial Nursing Strategy of 2009, identified a shortage of nurses as a critical factor in its implementation. However, the increased student enrolment in the Western Cape continued without any research-based evidence about the deployment of nurses for service delivery. This article describes the production and deployment of professional nurses to Western Cape public health facilities for the period 2005 to 2010. A quantitative approach using an exploratory descriptive design was used during three research phases. The findings indicated that professional nurses who graduate with the four-year degree/diploma play an insignificant role in meeting the need for professional nurses in the Western Cape. From the findings, strategic direction is provided and described in order to advise policy makers about staffing professional nurses at the Western Cape public health facilities.

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The problem of getting sufficient numbers of qualified teachers to staff classrooms is one of the most significant public policy issues facing many countries. In Ghana, the problem of teacher shortage has been a perennial one, necessitated by educational expansion as well as adverse socio-economic and political circumstances, and exacerbated by high attrition rate. Efforts to find a solution are still ongoing. This paper aims to contribute to the search for solutions to the teacher shortage problem in Ghana. The paper takes the view that before education policy makers think about whether to recruit more teachers or retain existing teachers, it is important that they clearly understand the complex nature of the phenomenon of teacher shortage. The paper, therefore, reconceptualises the phenomenon of teacher shortage, clarifying it by disentangling and explicating its constituent variables. It also discusses various policy options for addressing teacher shortages, and indicates the implications of those options for teaching quality and teacher status. The ultimate objective is to provide a framework for analysing the problem of teacher shortage in a more critical way so that any interventions would be more focused and appropriately targeted.

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South Africa is currently experiencing a shortage of an estimated 70,000 plus information and communication technology (ICT) professionals, which is compounded by the fact that the number of ICT graduates is now showing a decline. At an organisational level, the effective use of ICT for organisational information management is difficult without having appropriately ICT-skilled (e-skilled) employees. The shortage of e-skills in South Africa and much of Africa forces companies to work at retaining their existing e-skilled professionals, but this task is becoming increasingly difficult. Thus, this study established the objective to explore the factors that contribute to the retention of skilled ICT professionals in one international consulting organisation in South Africa, which also might bear relevance to other similar organisations operating in many other African countries.

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Successfully motivating and retaining health workers is critical for the effective performance of health systems. In Mozambique, a shortage of health care professionals and low levels of staff motivation in rural and remote areas pose challenges to the provision of equitable health care delivery. This study provides quantitative information on the job preferences of non-physician health professionals in Mozambique, examining how different aspects of jobs are valued and how health professionals might respond to policy options that would post them to district hospitals in rural areas.

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Africa has huge potential for growth and development and its youthful population and abundant natural resources are key aspects that need to be fully exploited. Engineering is one area that requires specific attention as it provides highly skilled personnel for industrial development. Through essentially desk-top research, this paper surveys the challenges that Sub-Saharan Africa faces in promoting engineering, such as lack of engineering capacity, shortage of engineering technicians, poor quality and relevance of educational provision, lack of human and financial resources, and poor linkages with industry. The paper then identifies several regional initiatives to address some of these challenges.

Most of these are fairly recent and have yet to develop, and while several of them encourage harmonisation of approaches and collaboration among African institutions, hardly any place emphasis on university-industry linkages. Accreditation of engineering qualifications in Africa is key to improving the quality of the awards. Only a few African countries have established a really robust accreditation system for engineering qualifications. This paper suggests that these countries should take the lead in assisting the other countries, on a sub-regional basis, to improve their accreditation system, the ultimate goal being to establish a Pan-African engineering accreditation system.

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The [vocational education and training] VET efforts of large family business in Germany on the one hand, and the risk of the shortage of skilled workers for internationally active German businesses on the other, this paper looks at the involvement of German family businesses in vocational education and training in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). More specifically, it explores the potential and opportunities of initial and continuing vocational education and training in Central and Eastern European countries of major significance to the German economy, sets out the obstacles that exist and examines where action is needed. The study focuses on industrial and technical occupations, since a significant portion of German family businesses in CEE are industrial companies with a particular need for personnel in this field. The economic importance of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to Germany and German businesses can be seen, for example, from figures on trade intensity or the ranking of trading partners in foreign trade. Germany's imports from Poland (ranked 4th), for instance, today exceed those from Italy (5th) or France (6th). Our analysis includes seven countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Serbia. Between them, these countries are home to no fewer than 4,442 branches of German businesses, employing over 1.4 million people. This indicates the considerable potential for German businesses in the region. The potential, opportunities, obstacles and the need for action that we have identified in this study result from the particular local contexts in Central and Eastern European countries, contexts that differ considerably from country to country. While a high degree of similarity between the countries might initially be assumed, a closer examination reveals major national differences in the existing environments for vocational education and training. It was therefore necessary to begin by looking at each country's education and training system.

Published abstract.

The volume from which this paper is taken is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 153.651. Show less

This study set out to provide greater insight into the status of migrant teachers in South Africa. The findings have shown that migrant teachers are playing an important role in South African schools, but that the requirements they need to meet are onerous and misaligned. This lack of coordination between the agencies tasked to oversee different parts of the system not only results in the country's potential to effectively use the skills of migrant teachers being compromised, but also exposes the system to potential abuse and fraudulent practices.

The presence of migrant teachers appears to be tolerated as a stop-gap measure to assist with the immediate teacher supply-demand challenge in the country. An attitude of, 'let's use migrant teachers to assist in the meantime while we increase the capacity of our teacher education system to produce the teachers we need' appears to prevail. [The authors argue that,] whilst the country certainly must, and is, working to increase its own teacher education capacity, the perception that migrant teachers are a currently useful, but expendable resource is a flawed one.

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Skilled migration is one of the policy levers available to governments to address workforce shortages in the economy. This issue of Focus on explores how skilled migration is utilised by governments globally to address skill and labour shortages; how effective policies and procedures that recognise and validate qualifications and credentials gained overseas can facilitate the integration of skilled migrants and refugees in destination labour markets; and the impact the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had on skilled migration around the world.

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The impacts of training and apprenticeship education towards building high-level technical and vocational skills that support human capital development and attracting foreign direct investment are being reshaped by global competition. This article draws on human capital theory to report on a qualitative study that explores skilled labour challenges within Ghana's training and apprenticeship system through the lens of the demand side of employment perspective. The findings point to a training mismatch, lack of regulations and ineffective apprenticeship programmes, underinvestment in education and training, and outdated training programmes. The bottlenecks in the supply of skilled labour in Ghana are hampering the firms' ability to find skilled labour across industries. We suggest improved social partnership between industries and training institutions, with increased government investment in training and apprenticeship programmes, as a way forward to address the technical and vocational skilled labour supply bottlenecks. Wider implications for the African region which shares similar developing contexts are discussed.

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It is difficult to fathom the words 'skilled labour shortage' in a country of over 160 million, but the challenge of shortage of trained skilled construction labour is glaring in the industry. The purpose of the study was to examine professionals' preference for migrant craftsmen in Lagos State. A survey research design through the administration of questionnaires was used for the study. A convenience sampling method was used for the study in a vibrant sample area Lekki, Lagos where there are high volumes of building construction activities. From the 45 construction sites visited in Lekki, Lagos only 30 construction sites were responsive to the study representing a 67 per cent response rate. The data were compiled and calculations performed using SPSS 21.0.

The result showed that migrant craftsmen from four major countries in West Africa namely Benin, Ghana, Niger and Togo, are preferred by construction professionals for crafts work on building construction sites. The factor influencing the choice of migrant craftsmen is due to the shortage of skilled local craftsmen in the construction industry. The major factors mitigating against the use of local craftsmen are that they cut corners in carrying out their craft, they rush their work and they are not keen on improving their training. The preference for migrant craftsmen would result in an adequate supply of craftsmen in the industry and consequently unemployment for local craftsmen. It was recommended that local content act should be enacted and enforced for construction companies in the Nigerian construction industry to ensure an adequate quota for local professionals and craftsmen on construction sites. Nigerian institutions aimed at providing trade skill improvement programs for local craftsmen should be revamped in order to obtain skills to evolve and survive in the competitive construction industry.

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