43% of engineers say SA engineering degrees inadequate
About 43% of South African engineers believe that engineering qualifications currently on offer by tertiary institutions are inadequate, a recent survey by financial services company PPS revealed on Monday.
These results echoed a recent report on the engineering capacity requirements in sub-Saharan Africa by the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, which attributed notable levels of unemployment among engineering graduates to a lack of necessary skills and experience following graduation.
“In addition, these findings are in line with the Manpower Group South Africa’s Talent Shortage Survey of 2013, which revealed that engineering positions were the most difficult for companies to fill,” said PPS group marketing and stakeholder relations head Gerhard Joubert.
The survey also found that 82% of respondents believed that not enough was being done to attract new engineers to the profession.
South African Institution of Mechanical Engineering CEO Vaughan Rimbault added that, despite the perceived inadequacies of engineering education, there was a yearly oversubscription to engineering study programmes at tertiary level – in some cases by as much as 400%.
“These results point to the need for additional educational opportunities to be made available to aspiring engineers, which would ultimately assist in resolving the current skills shortage in the engineering profession,” he commented.
Despite these concerns, 82% of respondents expressed confidence in the future of the profession in South Africa, with 74% of engineers stating they were confident that they would remain in the country for the foreseeable future.
Joubert noted that, while both these percentages were high, both had dropped by two percentage points year-on-year and should be closely watched.
“The engineering profession is critical to the development of national and regional infrastructure and resultant economic growth. Therefore, it is important that steps are taken to ensure more people are provided with the chance to pursue a career in engineering while also looking for ways to improve the current engineering degree to ensure that graduates are equipped for the workplace,” he asserted.
The survey, which polled over 700 engineers, revealed further concern about whether government was effectively delivering on its promised infrastructure spend, with only 41% of engineers canvassed confident that the State would meet its infrastructure budget target.
This came after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan stated in his Budget speech earlier this year that R827-billion would be drawn from the fiscus and State-owned enterprises and channeled towards South Africa’s infrastructure projects over the next three years.
“This is positive news, given the fact that R642-billion was spent over the past three years,” Joubert said.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation