WSU HOLDS MINI CONFERENCE TO SIGNIFY CULMINATION OF CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMME

Buffalo City Campus mechanical engineering HOD, Zamile Mpeta, whose winning poster entitled “Using practicals to teach Computerized Numerical Controlled (CNC) programming”, was amongst the engineering staff members who recently attended the ‘Engineering Education Existing Staff Capacity Enhancement Programme’ mini conference held in East London.

The departmental head’s poster presentation won first prize following a three-year capacity-building programme that proved a fitting ending to a most successful multi-institutional undertaking.

The event marked the culmination of the aforementioned capacity-building programme which was championed by Walter Sisulu University in partnership with Stellenbosch and Coventry University – an undertaking funded under the ‘University Capacity Development Programme’.

“The Engineering Capacity Building Project was initiated through a proposal request that came out from DHET in 2017 through which they invited all universities to make a proposal to enhance engineering education at universities.”

“What was interesting and different about WSU’s submission was that it was the first time ever that a submission was made to DHET under the UCDP programme by a so-called Historically Disadvantaged Institution (HDI). So for the first time, the lead institution in such a programme was an HDI,” said the project manager, Dr Ferdie Gerber.

further elaborating, Dr Gerber said the project sought to capacitate staff and enable student engagement in effective meaning-making practices aligned to industry needs and supported through explicit curriculum mapping and problem-orientated pedagogic initiatives.

In a bid to effectively carry out the abovementioned mandate, five sub-objectives upon which the intricate workings of the programme would be premised were established and included:

• Staff and curriculum development for improving communication skills of engineering graduates;
• Staff capacity development towards teaching for the “world of work;
• Application of project and problem-based learning as a Teaching and Learning Strategy;
• Development of postgraduate supervision capacity;
• Research on curriculum mapping as a tool for curriculum analysis.

“These five activities informed the project and collectively and individually we had various workshops which amounted to face-to-face events so as to pull in staff. Each event had a specific focus and all the various takeaways from those events were then eventually consolidated into one under the mini conference which we organized as close-out event to showcase all the work done and lessons learnt thereof,” said Dr Gerber.

Beyond reflecting on the project and its achievements, the day, quite importantly, also served to chart a way forward that will ensure the efforts put in and success obtained in the project are maintained and moreover expanded on through the creation of teams that will serve to create platforms for continued training, discussions and engagements.

In conclusion, Dr Gerber said the ultimate goal of the project would be to see the increased employability of the engineering graduates, as well as ensuring students gain benefit from what they learn in the lecture halls through a higher quality of teaching.

By Thando Cezula