BUILT ENVIRONMENT DEPT PUSHES TO OFFER ADV DIPLOMA BY 2023

Performing the great trek across the country in search of opportunities for furthering one’s academic ambitions could become a thing of the past for students in the built environment department should aspirations turn to reality in 2023 and beyond.

Currently, the majority of students who graduate with a Diploma in Building Technology (formerly the National Diploma in Building) from the university are unfortunately left stranded as they hit the proverbial ceiling owing to the lack of a postgraduate qualification in the department, whilst the remaining minority are forced to pursue their studies with other institutions across the country.

“All along, students who completed their diploma in our department enrolled to other institutions of higher learning across the country because we don’t have the postgraduate qualification. And, this was possible only to a minor proportion of students who were lucky to afford life outside the Eastern Cape,” said built environment departmental head Prof Ruben Ndihokubwayo.

Since taking charge of the department as acting HOD in July 2020, Ndihobukwayo has made tangible strides in laying a solid foundation from which the department’s aspirations to offer an Advanced Diploma in Building Technology can be brought to fruition in 2023.

He says once the initial 2020 cohort (the first to be enrolled in the new qualification) of building technology students complete their studies in 2022, it’s envisaged that they’ll then enrol, for the first time ever, in the university’s building technology advanced diploma.

Ndihobukwayo has also been putting in the hard yards, laying the foundation by instituting interventions aimed at seeing the department offering a Bachelor’s and Honours Degree in building technology in the near future. This would serve to enhance its research profile and thereby improve the quality of the programme and its graduates.

“We also envisage to incorporate some subjects into our curricula that will enhance employability of our students. Further, the content of some subjects will be refreshed and aligned with the ICT field and 4IR developments. We have identified some niche areas which will focus on which will make our students to be unique,” he says.

Not one to disturb the bank only to pay lip service, Ndihobukwayo’s has instituted concrete interventions to fulfil the department’s goals, including:

• Improving the staff academic profile by conductingpre-admission coaching clinics consisting of a series or research methodology workshops;
• Instituting an ongoing postgraduate studies mentorship programme aimed at currently Master’s degree registered staff members or master degree holders currently registered or intending to register for doctoral studies;
• Establishing programs to focus on postgraduate Student Supervision intended to developing supervision capacity of for research supervision for research proposals, dissertations, and theses) research publication;
• as well as conducting workshops on writing conference and journal papers to boost research profile and increase research output.

Ndihokubwayo said a number of staff have enrolled for Masters and PhD’s, including four BCC staffers and one in Butterworth, while three others in Butterworth are currently in the process of becoming bona fide students.