Bongani Majola
Many aspirant students of engineering do not qualify for admission into study the first time around due to their weak educational background. Technikon Pretoria has devised a second-chance programme, the Technology Access Programme, for students with sufficient potential to master an engineering course but are “handicapped by a poor schooling system”.
Every applicant to the faculty of engineering has to write an admission examination. Successful students are then enrolled in the four-year BTech degree in the mechanical, civil or electronic engineering fields. But students who fail have the option of joining the access programme.
Lizette Viljoen, the programme’s manager, says the purposes of the examination are “primarily to eliminate students whose profile does not meet the preferred proficiency for engineering students, but also to identify students with the potential to study engineering successfully to be given assistance early in their studies.”
First introduced in 1997, the programme has bridged the gap between poverty and opportunity for 787 students. Thirty-three students in the faculty of natural sciences were accepted to the programme at the beginning of this year.
“One of the basic tools in technology is the computer,” says Viljoen, “but a lot of students have never had access to computers. So after the first semester of the access programme their computer skills will have improved to a level appropriate for students in technology.”
The programme is a full-time course, offered over two semesters from January to June and July to November. Students focus on study methods as well as life skills. They are also introduced to their preferred field of engineering through site visits, presentations by industry, alumni visits and relevant films.
All the classes are conducted in English, giving students, according to Viljoen, the opportunity to improve their language skills. “As many students have never had the opportunity to use small hand tools or dismantle and assemble engineering tools”, says Viljoen, “the programme equips them with practical experience of engineering applications at workshops equipped for the purpose.”
The programme forms part of Technikon Pretoria’s mission of “making a meaningful contribution to the development of South Africa’s human resources”, says Viljoen. Last year’s best student, Mokidi Moalushi, who averaged 81%, is currently enrolled for a BTech degree in civil engineering and, according to Viljoen, is doing very well.