Realising the importance and need for work-ready law graduates, Professor Norman Duncan, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC): Academic of the University of Pretoria (UP), in collaboration with Dean Professor Elsabe Schoeman and Deputy Dean Professor Charles Maimela of the Faculty of Law (UP Law), developed, designed and implemented a law student internship programme (LIP) in 2021.  For this purpose, 11 LLB final-year students were recruited, selected and placed in various faculties and professional services departments at UP as 2021 LIP participants for a period of approximately nine months.

UP Law is proud to confirm that based on the success of the launch, the LIP is continuing in 2022, and thus a second group of UP law graduates proudly were deployed to their respective faculties and departments on 1 March 2022. 

Faculties and professional services departments benefit from the interns' legal knowledge and skills, while the interns in turn gain invaluable practical experience in and exposure to a work environment before starting their careers.  This initiative aligns with UP’s ‘Ready for work’ initiative for students.

Employability skills are widely considered as a pivotal and integral element of business undergraduate education. In ‘Delivering work-ready business graduates – keeping our promises and evaluating our performance’ Denise Jackson, Ruth Sibson and Linda Riebe from Edith Cowan University in Australia conclude that ‘A review of recent literature reveals a growing abundance of studies examining the positive impact of student work placements on graduate work-readiness. Non-technical skills, often referred to as generic, professional or key skills and herein defined as employability skills, are those which facilitate the creative and productive application of disciplinary skills and knowledge in the workplace. Team working, communication, critical thinking and problem-solving are prominent examples of employability skills considered vital in business graduates (Jackson & Chapman, 2012).'

UP Law extends its appreciation to Human Resource Generalist Jeanette Schoeman and HR interns Sherwyn Roussouw and Nontriza Mashigo who were involved in the recruitment and placement process.