UJ launches Postgraduate School for Engineering Management
AUCKLAND PARK- The University of Johannesburg engineering department pushes to ensure the university is the best in Africa through extending programmes offered by the department.
With a long history of offering programmes in engineering management, the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (FEBE) has formally launched a Postgraduate School for Engineering Management.
The master’s programme is offered as a combination between course-work and a mini dissertation.
“Frequently, students align their mini-dissertation work to strengths of those offering the programme, but also to the interest of a given industrial sector. The approach helps to explore, in depth, the shortcomings of a given sector and develop solutions based on best practices world-wide,” Prof Saurabh Sinha, Executive Dean of FEBE says.
The 2012 Infrastructure Sector Research Report indicates: “SA firms in South Africa are reporting a shortage of engineers, engineering managers and project management skills.”
The postgraduate programme of the school caters for part-time and full-time students.
A number of part-time students from Johannesburg as well as the broader continent benefit through the after-hours presentation of the programme. The programme is led by Prof Jan-Harm Pretorius, acting head of the Postgraduate School of Engineering Management, supported by a number of industrial experts.
According to Prof Pretorius, aligned to the requirements of the infrastructure sector and the broader fields of engineering, one finds that the overall demand for engineering managers remains yet to be addressed.
“Given the long history of engineering management at UJ, and UJ’s vision of becoming an international university of choice, anchored in Africa, dynamically shaping the future UJ has focused its resources along some of its strengths. One such strength, reflected by the exponential growth in the programme, is its engineering management flagship programme,” added Prof Pretorius.
To build the strength of the programme, the school will recruit further international and national expertise. In this regard, a senior lecturer was recently recruited. The school will also advertise the post of another associate professor or senior lecturer. Regarding international expertise, in addition, the school has recruited one distinguished professor, supported by three distinguished visiting professors, who together cross-cut various engineering disciplines.
