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Industrial design thinking and innovations propelled by the Royal Academy of Engineering in Sub-Saharan Africa for capacity building

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 91; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.procir.2020.02.233

2212-8271

Wilson R. Nyemba, Tauyanashe Chikuku, Jennifer R. Chiroodza, B. N. Dube, Keith F. Carter, Charles Mbohwa, Lovemore Magombo,

Organizational Learning and Leadership

Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a persistent shortage of engineering skills required to drive industry in this dynamic era of rapid technological changes. This has been exacerbated by the mismatch of skills produced by universities and those required by industry, partly attributed to lack of access to modern equipment and technology by engineering academics to adequately dispatch appropriate skills to future engineers. A recent audit conducted in Zimbabwe revealed a 62% skills deficit, mainly in the engineering and technology sectors. The University of Zimbabwe, in collaboration with six other institutions of higher learning in Southern Africa embarked on and successfully managed the Enriching Engineering Education Program from 2013 to 2015, financially supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering. This project was aimed at enhancing the quality and relevance of engineering graduates and this was accomplished through secondments of engineering academics to industry to improve their skills and access to modern equipment, knowledge sharing workshops and conferences to boost the quality of research as well as continuous professional development training for engineering academics and technicians. This initiative was largely successful, based on student evaluations, buy-in and support from local industries as well as the number of industrial design projects and innovations that were generated, some of which have since been patented and commercialized. These achievements motivated other institutions to join and the initiative has been expanded to the Higher Education Partnerships for Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper outlines the activities and achievements of this initiative and demonstrates how the expanded version will utilize two approaches of design thinking and systems thinking for capacity building and sustainability in engineering education and regional integration.