More and more young South Africans should follow careers in the built environment and register as professionals; if the Department of Public Works (DPW) is to effectively address the shortage of critical and scarce skills in the built environment, thus capacitating DPW to deliver on its mandate.
These were the sentiments echoed by Public Works Minister Mr T W Nxesi, MP while addressing the Young Professionals Seminar held on 22 November 2013 at the CSIR Convention Centre in Lynnwood, Pretoria. He thanked the Human Capital Investment (HCI) Unit for organising successful Young Professionals Seminars on an annual basis since 2010.
The annual Seminar which focuses on sustainable infrastructure development, serves as a platform for young professionals to interact with leading professionals and academics on the built environment sector challenges and opportunities. It also gives them access to initiatives and research work that can help them further develop their careers in the built environment.
During the Seminar, Minister Nxesi who was accompanied by Higher Education Deputy Minister Hon Mduduzi Manana, MP and the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) CEO Ms Gugu Mazibuko handed over certificates to 26 Young Professionals who have successfully attained professional registration after being part of DPW’s Young Professionals Programme, bringing the number to 46 registered professionals since the inception of the programme.
The Young Professionals Programme is an intervention to strengthen the skills pipeline strategy to support the registration of built environment professionals through significant mentorship and structured training. It provides structured mentorship support, exposes candidates to national and international projects covering training areas in the following fields; Engineering (Structural, Civil, Electrical and Mechanical), Quantity Surveying, Construction Project Management, Architecture, Landscape Architecture , Town Planning, Property Valuation and Interior Design.
Other objectives of the Young Professionals Programme includes ensuring on-going training and development before and after candidacy registration, maximising exposure of candidates to national and international projects and exchange opportunities and to grow skills appropriate for DPW’s needs.
In his speech, the Minister said transformation still posed as a major challenge for the sector, with the black population still only constituting about 25% of registered professionals in the built environment professions. “Among the problems that face young black students after graduating in the built environment studies, is the challenge of acquiring placement in the workplace to enable them to gain hands on exposure/experience and register as candidates for professional registration,” alluded the Minister.
In closing, the Minister indicated: “The department is looking closely at the challenge of experience and professional registration of young professionals, working hand-in-hand with our entities, particularly the Council for the Built Environment (CBE) and the CIDB. To this effect, Minister Nxesi stated that the CIDB will be launching new standards for construction development which consist of model clauses for infrastructure contacts to include more and better training opportunities for technicians, artisans and professionals in the built environment.
