Welcome

The mission of the Optentia Research Focus Area is to develop and organise knowledge for the optimal expression of individual, social and institutional potential, with specific interest in the African context. The research programme utilises the inputs from various disciplines in the social sciences, including Psychology, Industrial/Organisational Psychology, Human Resource Management, Educational Psychology, Sociology, Educational Sciences, Employment Relations, and Social Work.

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Symposia

Developing supports for the learning needs of all learners - 09 to 10 July 2018

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Dealing with Unemployment in South Africa: Research and Intervention - 13 to 14 September 2018

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Recent news

The four types of unemployed people

In the previous version of “Unemployed Voice”, published in the June edition of HR Voice, we challenged organisations to strategically embrace corporate social responsibility to position themselves as social enterprise...Read article

Symposium to investigate experiences around unemployment

The Optentia research focus area at the North-West University (NWU), together with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium and with the support of the Flemish Interuniversity Board, are hosting a symposium on une...Read article

Unemployed Voice launched during Youth Month

To support government’s focus on Youth Month, the SA Board for Personnel Practice (SABPP) launched a new series in HR Voice (a monthly publication), called “Unemployed Voice”. Following a successful meeting betwe...Read article

The Qhubekela Phambili project brings hope to the unemployed

Researchers from the Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University (NWU) and KU Leuven assisted by Prof. Roland Blonk (Tilburg University and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research - TNO) recently imple...Read article

Newsletter, March 2018