Getting ahead in your career

Finding a job is tough. Finding a good job is even tougher. When you've found that perfect job, it's important to then find opportunities to move up the workplace ladder. No matter where you are on the corporate chain of command, it's all about getting ahead. To do so, it never hurts to evaluate your career strategies from time to time, particularly as they relate to workplace rules and ethics. You spend at least a third of your life working. You might as well make those hours pleasant and enriching--for you.

Don't wait for your boss to notice you: take matters into your own hands and put yourself out there.

Here are our 9 ways to get noticed, get on and get your talents recognized:

Understand your boss:  Understand the way your boss works so that you're both on the same wavelength and you're in a better position to meet his expectations and win him over.You need to identify his managerial style and adapt to it. DO NOT Suck up to your boss. Trying to be best buddies is not the way to go.

Speak up in meetings: Make yourself seen and heard, put your ideas and qualities forward. Don't just sit there listening and trying to look intelligent, show you've got a contribution to make and show you're capable of speaking in front of others.

Look the part: Go to work well-rested and presentable. Never show up looking like you just rolled out of bed. Show that you care about the company image & showing that you care about your appearance is also a mark of respect towards your colleagues.

Increase our skills base - Studying for something like an MBA will most definitely improve your chances of promotion. The QS World MBA Tour - Africa is scheduled to take place early 2012, its free to attend, and offers a showcases all the major MBA players in Africa. Well worth a visit to decide if this path is for you. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for event dates.

Get organised: Demonstrate that you're professional and responsive. Quick and efficient are the keywords to bear in mind.

Keep a level head: Highlight your resistance to stress and pressure, and to demonstrate your management potential. If you show that you’re able to handle challenging tasks, you’ll become a more valuable employee, and a more valuable employee gets more perks.

Communicate: Communicate with and inform others, showing your superiors that they can trust you. Being open with people shows you're good-natured and responsible.

Share your ideas: Promote your sense of initiative and your abilities. Show your boss that you're a teamplayer rather than just an amazing individual! Help your team make progress and improve the way the company is run.

Get involved: Get to know people at work & start to fit in. Establishing good relationships with your colleagues is also a good way of keeping up to speed with what's going on. The more people you develop positive relationships with (both up and down the hierarchy), the better off you’ll be.

So, earn a gold star on the job and start your way up the ladder. You already know the way.

Higher education in Africa is internationalising - slowly

Higher education in Africa has been internationalising, driven by student mobility, the growth of English and an array of initiatives including the creation of regional bodies and networks and improved internet connectivity. But outside of South Africa, lack of strategies and the many challenges facing higher education are hampering its growth.

This is according to James Otieno Jowi, Executive Director of the African Network for Internationalisation of Education, based at Moi University in Kenya. He was speaking at the 1st QS-MAPLE conference held in Dubai from 1-2 May.

With the role of universities in sustainable development widely acknowledged, and in the context of globalisation, internationalisation has gained a central position in higher education with varying implications and consequences for different regions and institutions, Jowi said.

Initiatives to promote internationalisation in Africa have been increasing, with the key actors including government departments and agencies, regional organisations, NGOs and "regional university associations and research networks which continue to flourish across the continent more than ever before".

Jowi said internationalisation was also being driven by new developments in the higher education landscape in Africa. These include:

* Rapid expansion of higher education, especially in numbers of students, institutions and their types, actors and the diversity of academic programmes.
* Increasing mobility of students across national boundaries, making African students among the most mobile in the world.
* The growing role of the English language in academic engagements, especially in countries that have been using other languages for scholarship.
* Improved information and communication technologies, especially internet connectivity, which has changed how universities, students and staff participate in internationalisation.
* Growth of regional networks and programmes has played a "crucial" role in supporting internationalisation.
* Greater interest in and support of African higher education by international partners.
* Increasing intra-Africa initiatives including centres of excellence, quality assurance frameworks, enhanced collaborations between universities, and attempts to harmonise academic programmes.

However, Jowi told University World News, universities in most African countries have dealt with internationalisation in an "ad hoc, non-coordinated and non-coherent way. This makes the objectives and outcomes unclear." There has also been lack of dialogue about the realities and consequences of internationalisation.

This is a void that Jowi's African Network for Internationalisation of Education has been trying to fill. ANIE's main role is to enhance understanding, advocacy and development of the international dimension of higher education on the continent by expanding knowledge and building and sustaining a cohort of competent professionals in this field.

Aside from a messy approach to internationalisation in most Sub-Saharan African countries, Jowi said, progress has also been impeded by problems faced by higher education.

"As such, there are numerous and multifaceted concerns, challenges and risks associated with the process of internationalisation," he said, which have raised questions over its potential on the continent.

"Africa encounters internationalisation engulfed in weaknesses that emanate from the confluence of historical, economic, educational, financial and paradigmatic contexts," Jowi explained, including serious institutional drawbacks such as weak structures and capacities, poor planning and inadequate financial support for internationalisation.

"Quality and weak regulatory frameworks is another challenge and is at the epicenter of internationalisation. Africa's research capacity is also quite marginal, standing at a meager 1% of the world's total. African higher education has continued to depend heavily on external resources in both funding and academic discourse."

"Africa's higher education remains at the margins of international higher education systems with neither a meaningful identity nor influence. As intra-Africa internationalisation initiatives begin to take root, supportive policy frameworks to facilitate student mobility and credit transfers are still problematic.

"And even though there are some improvements, ICT infrastructure and utilisation is still rather low," he continued.

Further, internationalisation came with attendant risks for Africa including the brain drain, commodification and commercialisation of higher education, unfair collaborations dominated by Western hegemony and lack of reciprocity, and negative influences on curriculum and academic quality especially through 'bogus' foreign providers.

Still, internationalisation offered opportunities for African higher education that could be used to mitigate some of the challenges and risks.

While the goals for internationalisation varied among regions, countries and institutions, African universities saw significant academic advantages including opportunities for funding, partnerships and new intra-Africa initiatives and developments in higher education.

"They would like to enhance their research capacity, improve quality and have innovations in curriculum that would contribute to better learning outcomes," Jowi told University World News. "They also see internationalisation as important in enabling them to develop their physical infrastructures and human resource capacity, and to forge strategic allowances.

"Internationalisation is also crucial in preparing globally competent graduates and enhances the visibility and international standing of institutions, especially in this era of rankings. In the long run, it will enable institutions to be more competitive and able to better respond to challenges in their contexts."

-          Karen MacGregor

How to make the most of the QS MBA World Fair

MBA Module on B-BBEE to enhance transformation

In a landmark higher education initiative, the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) and the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) which will introduce an academic module on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) in order to lead and enhance thought leadership on economic transformation in South Africa. 

A leading institution of higher learning, GIBS is the business school of the University of Pretoria and the NEF is a development financier mandated by the Department of Trade and Industry to drive the implementation of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment.

In accordance with the MOA, the NEF will make an initial endowment of R1.2 million to GIBS which will be used by the business school to introduce an elective module on B-BBEE as part of its MBA curriculum from 2011. It is the intention of both parties that the module will be integrated into the core curriculum of the GIBS MBA programmes in future.

The endowment will also help to ensure that B-BBEE issues and their effect on society are researched by leading GIBS faculty. GIBS will offer a series of forums, workshops, seminars and an annual conference to generate interest in B-BBEE among stakeholders.

Sam Tsima has been appointed as Programme Manager: Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment.

Commenting at the signing of the MOA Professor Nick Binedell, director of GIBS, said: “At GIBS we clearly understand B-BBEE as a specific policy to advance economic transformation and enhance the economic participation of black people in the South African economy. The developing economy has to be built on full participation by all its people and communities. The MBA programme is the right qualification within which to locate a module on B-BBEE and our partnership with the NEF is a confirmation of our commitment to this policy.”

-           Press release

Meet with the admissions staff of Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg (29 March) and Nairobi (31 March) at the QS MBA World Tour. Register for free online:

http://www.topmba.com/mba-tour/Johannesburg?partnerid=4511

http://www.topmba.com/mba-tour/Nairobi?partnerid=4517