Electricity + Control March 2015

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By Engineering Council of South Africa
DRIVES, MOTORS + SWITCHGEAR
during these outreaches. Involvement in the profession is important
to the bulk of the respondents, with 68 % of the group playing an
active role in the different Voluntary Associations (VAs).
The ongoing stakeholder engagement strategy being undertaken
by ECSA has paid off, with the study demonstrating that registered
engineers had a positive perception and experience with ECSA. The
majority of the respondents who participated in the engineering skills
survey are registered with the Council and value the recognition of
expertise, professional designation and statutory requirements that
form part of the benefits that come with registering with ECSA.
“Although we still have considerable work to do, we are encour-
aged by the responses from the industry about ECSA’s efforts raising
the profile of the profession, and we will continue to ensure we are
aligned with the needs and requirements of the profession through
more aggressive public engagement in 2015,” concludes Madonsela.
The full report on the results of the engineering skills survey can be ac-
cessed by visiting
Enquiries: Edgar Sabela, Executive: Strategic Services Engineering
Council of South Africa. Tel. 011 607 9500 or email
The magnitude of young engineering practitioners has increased in recent years, which can be attributed to the increasing number of the
previously disadvantaged people registering in the engineering field at higher education institutions. This has been found by the Engineering
Council of South Africa (ECSA) after conducting the engineering skills survey, which was commissioned in 2013.
Intensive
transformation in the
engineering profession
“Understanding the issues that influence the engineering
profession is one of ECSA’s top priorities, hence the
commissioning of this kind of a research,” says Sipho
Madonsela, chief executive officer at ECSA. “We have gone to con-
siderable lengths to review the respondents’ feedback and compile
a thorough report on our profession to date,” he added.
ECSA, together with the Department of Higher Education (DHET),
and the Economic Development Department (EDD) collaborated on
the engineering skills survey, which was commissioned to gain a bet-
ter understanding of the skills pool of engineers, technologists, and
technicians, with the focus on their qualifications, and current state
of employment. The survey indicated that 90 % of all respondents
are employed and working in the different engineering disciplines in
the country. Of the registered engineering practitioners who possess
engineering degree among therespondents, 74 % are white profes-
sionals, followed by 14 % of black practitioners, and 8 % of Indians,
with only 2 % and 0,5 % being Coloured and Asianrespectively.
Engineers form the largest category of those that are registered
with ECSA, although there are equivalent numbers of technicians
and technologists who are registered with ECSA. Only 28 % of the
respondents hold a National Diploma as first qualification, and the
bulk of this figure are historically disadvantaged individuals (Black,
Coloured, and Indian). A small percentage of respondents possess
an N4, N5 and N6 certificates as their first qualification but have pro-
gressed through the alternative route to become registeredwith ECSA.
“One of ECSA’s mandates is to champion the cause of transfor-
mation within the profession, and to achieve that we need com-
plete buy-in from the profession to ensure that there is adequate
and consistent transfer of skills andmentoring of younger black
engineering professionals,” says Madonsela. Having noted,
amongst other issues, gender imbalances and a need for more
professionals of colour, ECSA has undertaken to make this their top
priorities – to increase the number of women joining the profession.
Through programmes like Engenius and SakhimfundoTrust, ECSA
inspires young scientific and mathematical minds to strive for the
required grades in pure maths and science, to ensure acceptance into
institutions of higher learning, and girls are particularly encouraged
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