Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment
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Item Globalisation and localisation of engineering education in Africa(The World Academy of Research in Science and Engineering, 2021-11) Fomunyam, Kehdinga GeorgeThe problem of globalisation and localisation of engineering education in Africa is discussed in this paper. This is because, as compared to other continents, engineering education in Africa is still far behind in terms of quality and importance and is considered outdated and has no place in global engineering. To this impact, authors have argued that the globalization of African engineering education could be a possible solution to this anomaly facing the continent's engineering education. It is on this note that this research argues that it is important to globalize engineering education in Africa. This study further argues that while it is important to globalize engineering education, it is also relevant that it is localised alongside. To this end, this study believes that engineering education on the continent needs to undergo a 'localized globalization' for engineering education in Africa to take its correct place and role in global engineering. It is through this notion that this research is organized. Based on the analogy of this report, it is concluded that engineering education on the continent must be 'globalized locally' in order for engineering education in Africa to take its rightful place in world engineering. Therefore, this study recommends that local engineering values should be mixed together to achieve successful localized globalization while globalizing engineering education in Africa.Item Rebuilding after a pandemic, the place of engineering education in nation building(Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Engineering and Sciences Publication - BEIESP, 2020) Fomunyam, Kehdinga GeorgeEngineering education was defined as a field, discipline, practice and profession that has ties with the development, acquisition and the application of technical, scientific and mathematical principles to understand, design, implement and invent materials, machines, structures, systems and processes for specific activities. This typifies that engineering education has the drive to make things better. Engineering education is vital for national development and competitiveness. Issues of health are vital to humans and humans are key elements in nation building. At the termination of the year 2019, series of pneumonia cases were discovered in Wuhan China. The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an RNA virus with a crown like appearance when viewed under an electron microscope as a result of the presence of glycoprotein spikes on its envelope. The study looked at the place of engineering education to ensure rebuilding after a pandemic. Findings from the study revealed that engineering is important for nation building and various evidences that supports this were considered in this study. The Impetus of engineering education for rebuilding after the pandemic to contribute to nation building was also considered in the study. The study therefore recommended that effort must be made at leveraging on engineering education because of its import for rebuilding after a pandemic.Item Post-doctoral and non-faculty doctorate researchers in engineering education: demographics and funding(Durban University of Technology, 2022) Fomunyam, Kehdinga GeorgeThe driving force behind research in many countries is funding for research and development. The research at postgraduate level is predicated on a core research group championed by one principal investigator which might include staff scientists, postdoctoral appointees, non-faculty doctorate researchers, or graduate students and they play major roles in supporting the day-to-day duties in a research laboratory in order to gain more knowledge to continue their own independent research careers. In this case study, postgraduate postdoctoral appointees and doctorate holding non-tenure researchers in engineering were the study group and secondary data from National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (2018) was used in this study. From this result, it was noticeable that there were more of postdoctoral appointees in units much more than the other categories. There were more males than females among postdoctoral appointees and non-faculty doctorate researchers in engineering education. Findings reveal that the most prominent primary sources of support for postdoctoral appointees are federal and nonfederal domestic. From the primary mechanism of support, research grants were the most available for post-doctoral appointees. This study therefore recommends that there should be more inclusion for females in engineering education and efforts be intensified on increasing funding in postdoctoral engineering education.Item The political, social and economic dimensions of engineering education(The World Academy of Research in Science and Engineering, 2021) Fomunyam, Kehdinga GeorgeThe social, political, and economic structure of a society influences several aspects of the society, including the education sector and these three areas are often interconnected and affected by similar issues. Engineering, like other aspects of education is affected by policies and ideologies in a country and in turn, has an effect on the development of the economy. This paper shines a searchlight on modern day engineering education, focusing on its adaptation to economic and socio-political issues and changes, how they affect engineering education and its relevance in the face of evolving patterns and emerging trends in science and technology. This paper explores how these dimensions are being introduced into the engineering curricula-how engineering is taught and learned, changes that need to occur to maximize benefits obtainable from this linkage between engineering and the various aspects of society, how socio-political and economic content impact the field of engineering, and the contribution of engineering to these aspects of human life.Item Redefining the theory of engineering for relevance in the 21st Century in Africa(Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Engineering and Sciences Publication - BEIESP, 2020) Fomunyam, Kehdinga GeorgeAcademia and professionals’ attention has been drawn towards redefining theory of engineering for relevance in the 21st century. This has become an imperative as it has brought changes in engineering courses, and yet engineering curriculum have not been modified to accommodate these changes. With increased intellectual demand for ground-breaking engineering performance in Africa, African engineering institutions are still lagging behind as they are yet to meet up with the 21st century needs; hence the crux of this paper. This paper was guided by Jean Piaget’s constructivism learning theory, focusing on individual’s understanding and knowledge, rooted on one’s experience erstwhile to learning setting. This paper takes a broad look at the overall investigation of redefining the theory of engineering for relevance in 21st century in Africa. The specific objectives explore the principles of theory of engineering as well as its applicability and to examine how theory of engineering can be improved for contextual relevance, as well as its implications for 21st century engineering curriculum. Thus, to address this gaps, recommendations on redefinition and relevance of theory of engineering pertaining to curriculum revision and providing adequate staff development for engineering educators with intellectual capacity and skill improvement were recommended.Item Convergence and divergence in engineering education in Africa(Transstellar Journal Publications and Research Consultancy Private Limited (TJPRC), 2021-12-01) Fomunyam, Kehdinga GeorgeEngineering education is the process of teaching and learning engineering which has the capacity to make systems, processes and structures better. But in solving problems, there has been the case for having a finite appropriate solution or a plethora of solutions known as the convergence-divergence nexus. The convergence-divergence complex has been at the front burner of issues since the beginning of the 1950s and various scholars have argued for both in addressing challenges. This study unraveled the engineering education dynamic while also trying to understand convergence and divergence in engineering education in Africa. findings from the study revealed that Findings from the study revealed that convergence-divergence has been at the front burner of issues for long and various authors have made the case for each of the concepts as a result of their defining peculiarity and applicability. It was found out that it is important to understand both processes so as to ensure the selection of the best approach to issues and it was thus important to analyze both. This study, therefore, recommends that there must be synergy between convergence and divergence to ensure appropriate solutions to challenges in engineering education.Item Engineering education and individualism : the quest for individual excellence(The World Academy of Research in Science and Engineering, 2021-11) Fomunyam, Kehdinga GeorgeEngineering has been a discipline that is different from others as a result of various reasons. First, it is old as human civilization, and it has always been over the years. Excellence has over the years been a word common to institutions of learning as it has been a major part of most institutions vision and mission statement. This is not only limited to the academic institution as people have demonstrated excellence across various fields of human endeavour. Excellence is a defining character that sets individuals apart from others and it can be gotten by fulfilling certain standards that confer a mark of exceptionality on people. One of the most notable authors on individualism opined that it is an aspect of culture that is related with traits like independence and taking care of oneself. Findings from the study revealed that individual excellence gives specificity to the concept of excellence as it focuses on the individual. Thus, it was important to analyse individual excellence in engineering education using individualism and in doing this, some defining element in individualism were conceptualized for achieving individual excellence in engineering education. The study therefore recommended that to ensure the relevance of the distinction and excellence individualism offer, it must be subject to empirical verification.Item The philosophical dimensions of mathematics in engineering education(Research India Publications, 2022-09-30) Fomunyam, Kehdinga GeorgePhilosophical dimensions of mathematics education have drawn the attention of engineering educators and professionals in the 21st century, as it is perceived as a significant aspect in engineering education. Thus, engineering education has not witnessed critical changes with respect to mathematics as a lot of concerns such as staff capacity building and development, poor funding, and obsolete curriculum has become impediments in understanding the conceptual interpretation of mathematical philosophy in engineering education, hence the crux of this paper. This paper was guided by Social Constructivism Theory, which looks at how mathematics speciality forms its own epistemic knowledge-based domain that enhances and improves engineering education and contributes immensely to building potential engineering scholars. This paper addresses problems by filling the gaps in motivating the core investigation of unifying conjectures that are related to different areas of mathematics. This paper takes a broad look at the philosophical dimensions of mathematics in engineering education, while examining how mathematics as a body of knowledge is accounted as a means of enquiry in engineering education. The paper assesses the social philosophy and ethical dimensions of mathematics and its associated benefits; as well as its implications for engineering education (EE) in the 21st century. Thus, to address these gaps, recommendations on restructuring engineering education in areas such as curriculum revision, faculty capacity building and development as well as university funding in equipping students with contemporary mathematics textbooks were suggested.Item Degree accreditation report auto-generation by logic encoding and processing(2021-11-10) Chetty, Manimagalay; Rawatlal, RandhirMaintaining the accreditation profile of an academic programme is a key activity in so-called professional degrees such engineering, commerce and law. The complexity of the accrediting criteria tends to rise over time as accrediting bodies require quantitative evidence of competence of increasingly specific graduate attributes. Evaluation of graduate attributes may therefore require complex logic processing which challenges the human capacity. This has the negative side effect of discouraging curriculum revision not for pedagogic reasons but simply due to the complexity of evaluating complex logic patterns against a data set whose structure is shifting. These challenges can be overcome through the application of logic encoding and processing. A computing system is better suited to such processing tasks since logic processing is fundamental and well-established to such systems. On the other hand, the efficient representation of a complex accreditation logic rule base then becomes the challenge. This paper describes the representation of the accreditation logic of eight engineering academic programmes at the Durban University of Technology through the AutoScholar Advisor System in preparation for evaluation by the Engineering Council of South Africa. It is shown that the system generates accurate reports even with deeply nested logic structures and with changes in curriculum over time.