They resolve to embrace change, enhance mentorship
“Every successful organization has to make the transition from a world defined primarily by repetition to one primarily defined by change. This is the biggest transformation in the structure of how humans work together since the Agricultural Revolution”.
These are words from world renowned social entrepreneur Bill Drayton.
They are, however, very relevant to the engineering profession in Kenya today, which is confronted with a number of challenges such as stagnation, unfriendly legislation, and infiltration by quacks.
Furthermore, the development of pathways for professional development and mentorship of students and recent graduates is increasingly being prioritized.
Many speakers at the 29th Annual Convention of the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK), held last week at the Diani Reef Hotel in Kwale, agreed, as Drayton did, that it is time for a major shift in the way things are done.
Delegates cited huge gaps in the training and mentorship. They called for every consulting professional to mentor at least one engineer. This, they said, is also in line with recommendations of the professional code.
University curriculums
Engineer Nathaniel Matalanga said the universities that train engineers should collaborate as much as possible with the industry as one way of ensuring they remain relevant to the changes.
Other speakers felt that some universities were teaching content that was outdated and failed to take into account the latest technological developments in the industry.
Engineer Sammy Tangos regretted that engineers have sometimes left things to take their course, hence giving quacks and unscrupulous individuals a field day to pollute the space.
He cited the recent wave of collapse of buildings as a manifestion of the neglect of the engineers to take up their space.
“In Kenya today anybody can be a contractor. It has become a field for all and it is high time we cleaned the space,” he told the plenary.
Veteran engineer Meshack Kidenda deplored the deterioration of the training environment of engineers in the local universities calling for a major overhaul.
Kidenda, who is a former Director General of KeNHA, suggested that the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) bar universities from admitting any engineering students until the relevant curriculums are duly approved.
He said that during his stint at KeNHA, he noted that many university students who came for internship completed their term without ever having been visited by their lecturers for assessment.
Engineering lecturers
Another speaker called for a requirement to scale up practical skills among the lecturers of engineering by making it mandatory for them to go for periodic attachments in the industry to familiarize themselves with the trends.
He argued that lecturers who tended to confine themselves to academics at the universities often approved students’ projects that were largely irrelevant to the current industry trends and such students had problems in securing good job opportunities.
An engineering student from the Technical University of Mombasa said sometimes the firms where they went for attachment often seemed unsure on what tasks to give the interns. Some students end up performing menial jobs, contributing little or nothing to skills building.
However, Engineer Matangala advised construction companies to address that by attaching new engineering students to such tasks as materials testing.
Engineer Erastus Mwongera, Chairman of the Engineers Board of Kenya, said the Board currently has a clear-cut system of approving programs whereby they constantly engage universities from the onset of the curriculum. The Board then issues provisional/interim accreditation during the implementation. Once the university goes the full cycle and deploys all the required personnel and laboratories, the Board issue the ultimate accreditation, he explained. He however appealed to the universities to cooperate with the EBK.
He said it was erroneous for parliament to amend the Universities Act transferring the responsibility of accreditation to the Commission for University Education (CUE) without sufficient consultation with the professional bodies.
