Engineering Education at South Africa's Technikons

The South African engineering education model with a European perspective: history, analogies, transformations and challenges

“…Although it is not possible to go into all the details in this article, another form of engineering training emerged from within the technical college sector (Case 2006). In South Africa, technical colleges play a dual secondary/tertiary role in providing graduates with the knowledge and skills they need to enter specific trades and occupations (d'Almaine et al 1997). To meet a shortage of skilled personnel in the late 1960s, some of these colleges were designated as Colleges of Advanced Technical Education (CATEs) and a decade later evolved to become 'technikons', often thought of as being similar to polytechnics elsewhere in the world.…”

“…Technikon graduates -designated as 'engineering technicians' -qualify with an engineering diploma after two years of theoretical study followed by one year of experiential training at a co-operating, accredited industrial company (d'Almaine et al 1997).…”

“…While both the BTech from a university of technology and the BSc (Eng) from a traditional university are rated as '+4' qualifications, a BTech does not normally allow entry into a Master of Science (MSc) degree (+6) offered by the universities and this in turn has implications for entry into doctorate (PhD) programmes. This is because the BTech is more pragmatically oriented than the BSc (Eng) due to the experiential training component in the national diploma (d'Almaine et al 1997). Students graduating with a BTech may gain access to an MTech and then a DTech programme, both of which also have a more practical emphasis than do their university counterparts, the MSc and PhD.…”