Abstract:
This paper proposes a partnership-based model for embedding
employability in urban planning education. The model is based on
the author’s experiences of implementing an international project
which supported the development of employability skills in urban
and regional planning education in Malawi. Since independence,
urban planners have typically trained outside the country, attending
university in the UK and other Commonwealth countries. More
recently, the paradigm has shifted towards in-country education
delivered by academic staff cognisant with the opportunities and
challenges of development in Malawi. There remains, though, a gap
between graduate knowledge of the subject and the skills necessary
to pursue a professional career in the sector. Although there is no
consensus yet on the meaning of employability in the literature,
lessons from the project indicate that academic–public–private
collaboration helps incorporate in curriculum skills that employers
anticipate. Applicability of these principles is however context
dependent, particularly in the emerging economy context where
institutional capacity may be less developed compared to elsewhere
