The University of the Witwatersrand’s (Wits') School of Mining Engineering has once again recently been accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).
The ECSA accreditation is required every five years, and this cycle will see the school through to 2027, says Head of School Professor Cuthbert Musingwini.
This follows a lengthy period of self-evaluation to document activities and processes, after which the ECSA accreditation team visits the school to confirm this evaluation.
During their visit, the ECSA team examines every aspect of the school’s self-evaluation report. It conducts interviews with staff, students, recent graduates, and senior industry representatives and inspects both documentation and facilities to ensure compliance.
Laboratory and teaching facilities are inspected and checked for proper functioning, ensuring that all resources are effectively used.
The ECSA stamp of approval is noted as being vital to the careers of Wits mining graduates, as it permits them to register with ECSA as candidate engineers before they achieve professional engineers' status later in their careers.
Also, it allows Wits mining graduates to have their qualifications internationally recognised by employers and universities in other countries that are signatories to the Washington Accord.
“Being accredited by ECSA therefore puts our graduates at an advantage when they enter the local or global workplace, and when they study further. Accreditation assures the marketplace and academia of our world-class standards of teaching and research,” highlights Musingwini.
The school boasts one of the largest mining engineering programmes in the English-speaking world.
“Student numbers remain high in both undergraduate and postgraduate streams, with a significant proportion of the student body coming from countries outside South Africa,” says Musingwini.