50 Building Sciences students and lecturers from tertiary educational centres in Gauteng were directly exposed to the organised building industry following a special invitation from Master Builders South Africa to attend the recent MBSA national  congress in Johannesburg.

Deon Landmann, Education, Training & Transformation Manager of the Master Builders Association North, who arranged the students and lecturers’ attendance, says the interaction between the students and the leaders of the building sector from all corners of South Africa was “historic – and extremely rewarding”.

“The students have enthusiastically expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to attend the congress and engage with the industry. They are now also keen to become more involved in industry-related matters, events and organisations in future,” he adds.

Landmann says the students and lecturers are concerned about the “gap” between the built environment students and the building industry and would like to see interaction with  the industry through various programmes at their learning institutions. “The other concern expressed was that the students are exposed mostly to the theoretical part of building in their studies so when they enter the industry, they tend to be overwhelmed and intimidated by a lack of practical skills,” he explains.

Mohau Mphomela, Executive Director of MBA North, says he would like to see South Africa’s Master Builder associations establish and strengthen their partnership with the country’s builders of the future. “Industry should have a uniform and consistent approach to construction industry development, focusing on the youth and tertiary students’ preparation for the workplace. The demise of practical skills training at high school level has had a negative effect on the building industry. During my high school days, I was taught how to lay bricks – and I can still do that today. With the education system in place now, teachers lack the ability to provide methodology training,” he states.

Mphomela says MBA North has already taken positive steps to seek corporate partnership to address the building industry skills shortage among the youth at high school level and would intensify its efforts in this regard in future.

Tumi Dlamini, Executive Director of MBSA, says the response from students invited to the Congress, as well as from MBSA members attending, has been overwhelming. “Messages of appreciation are still flowing in. We are already in negotiations to make student involvement a permanent feature at future congresses ,” she adds.

The students attending the MBSA congress were drawn from the University of Johannesburg, University of Pretoria, WITS Construction School of Business, Tshwane University of Technology, and the Tshwane South and North FET. They are studying building disciplines such as Quantity Surveying, Construction Project Management and various trades.