Engineering & the Built Environment
The Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment covers a broad range of engineering disciplines, which are currently being reformed to respond to the demands of regional, national and global industry priorities in engineering education. Through a range of multi-disciplinary research institutes and centres, the Faculty aims to integrate its education and research programmes into a cohesive system, providing students with modern technology platforms for relevant and industry-responsive education, with a high degree of work-integrated learning. These platforms include the Product Life Cycle Management Competency Centre, providing state-of-the-art education in product design through to simulation and life-cycle management, the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Laboratory, and the Centre for Substation Automation and Energy Management Systems, to mention a few. Through this approach, the Faculty aims to emerge as a major driver of socio-economic change in the region.
Regional, National and international partnerships provide an essential mechanism for research and technology transfer, while at the same time developing opportunities for student international experience. The Foundry Technology Programme with RWTH Aachen University of Technology, and the Satellite Technology Programme under the French South Africa Technology Initiative, amongst others, are high impact examples of such partnerships. Exchange programmes, such as those with Shanghai Dian Ji University and De Haagse Hogeschool, provide students with opportunities to participate in collaborative technology projects while developing multicultural and global perspectives.
As part of a University of Technology, our mandate requires participation in community-based and SME projects, with a strong emphasis on commercialisation, providing a platform for technology transfer and spin-off technology enterprises. In this way, we provide our students and researchers with opportunities to engage at the highest level of engineering and continue to impact on the development of high-end engineering skills as a basis for industrial competitiveness.
