Public Works Minister TW Nxesi, MP, has handed over certificates to 26 young Professionals who have successfully attained professional registration status after being part to the department’s Young professionals Programme.
The Young Professionals Programme is an intervention of the skills pipeline strategy, which aims to address bottlenecks in the skills pipeline, proposing interventions to address basic education all the way to professional registration. The young professionals programme also aims to accelerate 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.
In his speech, the Minister said transformation is still a major challenge, with the Black population still only constituting about 25% of registered professionals in the built environment professions. The minister said, one of the problems is that even when young black students graduate in built environment disciplines from tertiary institutions, they face another barrier in getting a placement where they can register as candidates for professional registration.
Minister Nxesi also announced that the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) will next week, be launching new national standards for construction development which include model clauses for infrastructure contracts to include more and better training opportunities for technicians, artisans and professionals in the built environment.
Other objectives of the Young Professionals Programme include 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.
Enquiries:
Thami Mchunu
Director: Media and Stakeholder relations
Cell: 079 519 6997
