Cape Town - The 2022 World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) and Global Engineering Deans’ Council (GEDC) Conference in Cape Town has come to a successful end.
The International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES), based in Washington DC, hosts the conference in different locations each year - and Cape Town was the first-ever African host.
The South African Society for Engineering Education (SASEE), as a member of IFEES, co-hosted the event with the University of Pretoria and Central University of Technology, in conjunction with the South African Engineering Deans’ Forum.
Professor Sunil Maharaj from the University of Pretoria was the general conference chair.
The conference hosted more than 350 delegates from over 20 countries and six continents.
It featured various keynote speakers, discussions, workshops, and exhibitions, including a minidrone cage where students could apply their new coding skills acquired from leading software developers for engineers and scientists, MathWorks. Another highlight was the University of Pretoria’s robotic dog, smWoef.
Professor Maharaj said the conference was a great success.
“The delegates found the range of topics, workshops and discussions very engaging - and the topics were pertinent to the whole engineering education fraternity including students, corporates, professors, deans and NGOs,” he said.
On Monday, at the opening of the conference, Professor Maharaj said the idea of the conference was to engage with people from the industry to understand what is needed from future engineers.
“On the last day, our objective is to have a resolution. We will have seven resolutions and a way forward from this discussion so that there will be a call to action,” he said.
The conference, which wrapped up on Thursday highlighted the following resolutions:
- Harmonising engineering education and accreditation across the world; together with the creation of an African engineering education forum to take the lead in responding to the shortage of engineering skills and to streamline curriculla across higher learning institutions.
- Inclusivity and diversity in policies, projects, employment for alignment with global trends beyond the fourth industrial revolution are required.
- Significant investment in infrastructure and the development of sustainable projects that support local manufacturing is needed.
- Call on a more inclusive curriculum that incorporates concepts from engineering, social sciences, humanities, policy, law, finance, medicine and public health to advance "engineering for social good" across the planet.
- Government, industry, and other organisations need to commit to investment for further development of capacity building to increase the number and quality of engineers, technologists and technicians who meet industry needs.
- The development, access and adoption of open science repositories for all, and investment into data collection and repositories that can be accessed by educators and researchers in developed and developing countries is needed.
- A need for an increase in research capacity in engineering education, and recognition and investment in the development of engineering education as a profession so as to transform and strengthen higher education institutions.
- A need for a greater collaboration between industry, universities and communities in addressing the SDGs for a sustainable and peaceful planet.
“These were some of the resolutions taken at the general assembly during the closure of the conference. There was agreement that Unesco, various engineering organisations like WFEO and FAEO, and governments must play a pivotal role in realising this. It is hoped that during World Science week, which is being held in South Africa from December 4, these issues will be taken further,” Professor Maharaj said.
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