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Learning nurtures students. It cultivates their feelings and opinions, and students become empowered within themselves, which carries the concept of students empowerment into the learning stage while at universities. Empowerment is considered as a process of boosting an internal willingness and providing a climate and tasks that enhance students’ self-sufficiency and energy (Conger & Kanungo, 1988; Thomas & Velthouse, 1990; Dağgöl, 2020). Students empowerment refers to motivation to do the tasks, and in a more specific sense, an empowered student views the tasks meaningful, has the sense of competence to perform them, and thinks that his/her efforts have an influence on the things (Frymier et al., 1996). Students take most out of learning process and develop positive emotions towards this process. However, lecturers, academic staff and student leadership have also a role in fostering and feeding these feelings and positive outcomes. Students empowerment requires lecturers who are willing to design innovative curriculum depending on students’ needs (Dağgöl, 2020) within the social environment they are living in, and it necessitates a change in traditional power relationship. Yet, educate, engage and empower students to become global leaders able to be creative, innovative, independent, resilient, and entrepreneurs in solving local problems and being also able to remain locally relevant and globally competitive will play a vital role in student lives. Thus, the main goal of the empowerment topic or talk is to inspire and educate students to be better prepared for the challenges of globalization. Student empowerment is where students gain the authority and agency to make decisions on their own and implement their changes in school and post school. Student empowerment generally includes learning, teaching and leadership. Empowerment happens through student authorization and action upon gaining a sense of power over their finances, challenges, and other issues.
Planned panels will focus on the following areas:
1.Student Entrepreneurship and financial empowerment
2.Independence and decision-making power
3.Adaptation, relevance and resilience
4.Comprehensive basic soft skills training
5.Responsible Leadership skills
This will help involve students in "Real" Issues related to the country or the world at large. A big complaint a lot of students have about what we they learn in class is that it doesn't seem applicable to the real world. Have students practice skills they've learned or topics they've come to understand in service learning, debates, leadership/ volunteerism / community service, or by having opinions on "real" issues like education reform or the 2012 election. They're learning to help others instead of just working toward some lofty, seemingly distant goal of graduating and going to seek jobs in different industries.
Panelists:Prof Oluwaseun Oyekola
Lecturer: Chemical Engineering department
Institution: Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Faculty: Engineering and the build environment
Prof Dina Burger
Research directorate
Institution: Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Prof Mathabo Khau
Lecturer/Researcher: Education
Faculty: Education
Institution: Nelson Mandela University Eastern Cape South Africa
