The launch of the Master of Philosophy Degree Programme in Industrial Policy by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a commendable initiative that is welcomed by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti). This was said by the Industrial Development Policy and Strategy Advisor at the dti, Mr Nimrod Zalk at the official launch of the programme at UJ.
“The launch of this programme could not have come at a more opportune time. As a department we are excited about the programme as it provides an important intellectual platform for its graduates to contribute to the industrial policy debate and engage with the complex issues involved,” said Zalk.
He identified the relationship between industrialisation and employment creation as one of the complex issues that the debate on industrialisation needs to engage with.
“Empirical evidence supports the proposition that manufacturing remains the engine of growth for developing countries and no country has achieved higher level of capital income without first industrialising. Manufacturing creates jobs as it stimulates economic growth and employment creation directly as well as through multipliers and linkages to other sectors, including the services sector,”
Zalk also emphasised the role of industrialisation in Africa to ensure that the continent’s raw materials were beneficiated, with a particular emphasis on the need to modernise agriculture to increase agricultural output, productivity and exports. A number of opportunities exit for African countries to manufacture including in clothing and textiles, and beneficiation linked to agricultural and mineral products.
The Master of Philosophy Degree Programme on in Industrial Policy is a joint initiative between the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP) and the University of Johannesburg. It is aimed at serving the needs of African countries at a time when industrial policy has re-emerged alongside national development planning and regional integration as core strategies for achieving structural transformation across the continent.
The objective of the course is to strengthen the capacity of African policy officials and other development actors to conceptualise, design, implement, monitor and evaluate industrial policies and strategies in an age of intense multi-level globalisation.
It is also aimed at developing a specialised human resource capacity that would enable African governments in their individual and collective efforts to design and implement robust industrial policies and strategies that could set them on the path of sustained development and structural transformation.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Twitter: @the_dti
