An ambitious survey has been launched in a bid to determine the size and composition of South Africa’s population of engineers, technologists and technicians, as well as to assess the true nature of the skills gaps that are constraining the roll-out of the country’s multibillion-rand National Infrastructure Plan (NIP).

The voluntary survey, which is effectively designed as an engineering census, can be completed in about ten minutes online and can be accessed at www.engsurvey.co.za. It is being carried out and funded by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) with the backing of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the Economic Development Department.

ECSA council member Dr Allyson Lawless, who is also a leading authority on South Africa’s engineering and technical skills base, says the survey has been initiated to assess what skills are already available in the country and how these could be enhanced and supplemented to support the implementation of the 18 Strategic Integrated Projects (Sips) being overseen by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC).

These projects collectively make up the NIP and cover both economic and social infrastructure, from large-scale electricity projects and logistics corridors to the national school building initiative, as well as proposed healthcare and municipal investments.

A report drawing together the survey results is scheduled to be published by March so that it can be used to inform university and further education and training college enrolment plans. The results would also feed into the design of the Department of Home Affairs’ policies and procedures governing the acquisition of scarce skills, as it should offer a more precise picture of the main areas of need.

DHET deputy director-general for special projects Dr Adrienne Bird says the PICC has made the development of skills a core objective of the NIP and that all projects will be designed to include education and training schemes.

“Building people in the implementation of the Sips is as critical as building physical assets,” Bird avers, adding that the aspiration is to use the Sips to deal with South Africa’s skills challenge in a holistic way.

Occupational teams have been assembled to find ways to deal with prevailing constraints across the education and training value chain, from the quality of primary and secondary schooling through to ensuring that graduate engineers are able to register as candidates to become professional engineers and that technicians and artisans receive workplace experience.

Lawless says there is already some insight into the critical shortfalls, with the small number of land surveyors having already been identified as a serious problem. However, the aim of the survey is to improve visibility across all engineering disciplines and subdisciplines.

ECSA acting CEO Edgar Sabela is, therefore, urging as many engineers, technologists and technicians as possible to participate in what is officially referred to as the National Engineering Skills Survey.

Requests for participation have already been distributed to voluntary associations, government departments, State-owned companies, higher education institutions, sector education and training authorities, employment agencies, major employers and embassies.

“We really need to have a reliable set of statistics guiding our decisions on engineering skills development,” Lawless says, adding that the larger the response, the better equipped policymakers will be to address the prevailing bottlenecks.