UJ stampede tragedy

A parent was crushed to death in a stampede at the University of Johannesburg.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) stampede tragedy comes as the Adcorp Employment Index reveals that there are currently about 600 000 unemployed graduates in SA. Adcorp is an organisation that handles human capital management, Registering for a degree is a good thing (when there's an ordered process), but it's not always a guarantee of employment.

Stampede tragedy
The UJ Bunting Road campus came under the spotlight when one woman died and several others were seriously injured due to a stampede amongst late applicants. UJ opened its late application process yesterday, 10 January for potential students. According to various media reports, the stampede erupted when thousands of students and parents tried to enter the campus in the morning. More than 5000 new applications were received on Monday alone but in light of the tragedy and because most of courses are full, UJ has stopped the late registration process. Following the deadly stampede, officials at the university are considering cancelling the walk-in late registration process altogether.

Adcorp stats
Registration chaos aside, a degree does not always guarantee that you’ll find a job. According to Adcorp figures, released yesterday, there are about 600 000 graduates in SA who are unemployed, the majority of whom are in the arts, humanities and social science sectors.

Adcorp market analyst Loane Sharp further revealed that about 800 000 jobs in the private sector listed below are available and need more qualified applicants:
• Management
• Law
• Finance
• Engineering
• Accounting
• Medicine

So when deciding on what qualifications to pursue, you may want to consider industries that need more qualified professionals.

The figures also revealed that a total of 103 327 new jobs were created in December last year.