Doctoral Training in Engineering

This book analyses engineering education in industrialising countries, using Southern Africa as its case study. It measures the region against institutions in the industrialised world, with universities in the United Kingdom as the main point of reference.

The starting point is a long-standing shortage of engineers and engineering skills needed to drive industry in Southern Africa. That shortage is made worse by a mismatch between what tertiary institutions produce and what employers actually need. The author concentrates on one weakness in training: most engineering academics in the region hold qualifications at MSc or MEng level, which fall short of the internationally accepted PhD, DEng or DTech.

To close that gap, the book argues for reskilling and doctoral training of engineering academics, to be delivered through the doctoral training centres (DTCs) that have been proposed and set up in the region. It is aimed at graduate students, engineering academics, researchers, university administrators, foreign aid agencies, business leaders and government policy-makers.