This seminar will explore a case for how university-based professional education in South Africa might contribute to the public good, in particular to poverty-reduction.
The main arguments are located within the domain of human development which recognizes that while economic well-being is necessary to human well-being, it is insufficient.In this conception of human development the focus is on improving lives and expanding choices and opportunities in a range of dimensions of life.

At the centre of the seminar is a normative ‘Public-Good Professional Capabilities Index’ generated  by combining insights from the capabilities approach and ‘ideal-type’ professionalism literature with interviews and discussions with students,  lecturers,  managers,  alumni and non-governmental organizations  in five professional fields (engineering, law, public health, theology and social work) in three universities in South Africa.

Prof. Melanie Walker

Chair in Higher Education and Human Development; Senior Research Professor; Director of Centre for  Research on Higher Education and Development (CRHED), University of the Free Sate, South Africa.