University of South Africa: Unisa Engineering programmes recommended for ECSA accreditation
In a process that started a year ago when the College of Science, Engineering and Technology’s School of Engineering first invited ECSA to evaluate their programmes, it was a sigh of relief from the school and college at large when a positive outcome was announced by the accreditation panel on 15 July 2022, stating that all seven Advanced Diplomas in engineering programmes have been recommended for accreditation until the next accreditation cycle (the cycle last for five years). These include the following:
Advanced Diploma: Chemical Engineering
Advanced Diploma: Civil Engineering
Advanced Diploma: Electrical Engineering: Power
Advanced Diploma: Electrical Engineering: Telecoms
Advanced Diploma: Industrial Engineering
Advanced Diploma: Mechanical Engineering
Advanced Diploma: Mining Engineering
Once the regular accreditation concludes in five years, the engineering programmes will then be considered ECSA accredited programmes that comply with the International Engineering Alliance regulations. The outcome also included minor areas of improvement from each qualification that needed to be addressed.
In her vote of thanks, the Acting Executive Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Prof Simiso Dube, said: “It has been a journey for the school and college to come to this point. Our qualifications are new as we started offering them in 2020. So, to have ECSA reflect on our programmes and deliver what we had promised to do and then receive such feedback today is crucial for us and our improvements.” She concluded: “Colleagues, let us reflect on the things that have been highlighted in the panel recommendation report and have the heart to improve all the time because I believe there is still a lot of room for improvement.”
The accreditation panel further stated that this outcome would go as a recommendation to the high impact committee, which is the education committee at ECSA, which will consider the work done by the accreditation panel teams and their recommendations and then present their final decision. The final decision will then be communicated to the university and the council of Higher Education in South Africa.