Bridging South Africa’s skills deficit through enterprise and skills development
Consulting engineering and project implementation firm Hatch Africa has recognised that in order to alleviate South Africa’s growing shortage of skilled professionals in the fields of engineering and construction; industry as a whole should be assisting students to bridge the gap between secondary school and tertiary education, and between tertiary education and the working environment.
Hatch Africa has developed and implemented a number of skills development initiatives with the aim of guiding, mentoring and training students that are going through these transitional phases.
Hatch Africa director Tshepo Kgobe says that a critical area of skills development and encouragement for the engineering and construction industries, and one that is often ignored, is that of secondary institutions. “It is during grade ten that many students interested in entering the engineering and construction industries cannot do so because they have made the wrong subject choices, most common of which is not choosing to study mathematics and science at higher grade,” explains Kgobe.
Hatch Africa’s Motheo high-school assistance programme is intended to target students in grades ten, eleven and twelve that are interested in the engineering profession but that are struggling with their grades.
Kgobe points out that Motheo is a Tswana word which means foundation. “It is by building a solid base in mathematics and science that students can be afforded the chance to pursue a career in engineering,” he explains.
Through tutoring and guidance, Hatch’s Motheo programme aims to assist each student enrolled in the programme in achieving the grades that would be required for entry into tertiary institutions. With regards to the transition from high-school to a tertiary institution, the Motheo programme aims to prepare each student for the demands of the Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges, Technikons and Universities.
“It has been reported that a large percentage of students that cancel their studies in their first year do so because they are not fully-prepared for, or have never been exposed to, what is required of them by the Technikon, FET or University. The Motheo programme ensures that all students entering tertiary institutions have been exposed to systems that are common in most high-schools, such as libraries and chemistry labs, and have a good command of the English language,” explains Kgobe.
In addition to providing bursaries to promising students from the Matric Assistance Programme (branch of the Motheo programme), Hatch Africa provides bursaries each year to approximately fourty students at African Academy – an educational institute for draughts people.
“Draughts people are a key element in each and every architectural, engineering and construction project that is commissioned in the country. As South Africa is only producing a small part of the required draughts people that are required each year, initiatives such as the partnership between African Academy and Hatch are paramount,” explains Kgobe.
Each year, Hatch selects ten African Academy bursary students for in-service training. The in-service training, which is carried out at the Hatch offices, gives the bursars an opportunity to work in any one of Hatch’s various divisions. From the pool of bursary students, the top performers who are interested in furthering their studies receive bursaries for University from Hatch. In addition to covering the cost of the student’s studies; accommodation, food and spending money is also provided by Hatch.
“Hatch’s dedicated bursary department as part of Human Resources, ensures that each student’s needs are taken care of and that they are maintaining their grades. We require that each student maintains a seventy percentage aggregate right throughout their degree. The students who are able to meet and maintain these very high standards will be brought into Hatch on a permanent basis, once they have graduated,” explains Kgobe.
Once employed at Hatch, these junior staff members would be mentored and trained by the company’s Professional Development Programme, which allows each staff member to plan and track their career within the company. In addition to matching each junior staff member with a senior mentor, the Professional Development Programme also assists staff members in becoming registered, either as a professional engineer through the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) or as a professional project manager through the Project Management Institute (PMI).
Socio-Economic Development
In addition to Hatch’s Motheo programme and involvement in African Academy, the company has been a long-time supporter of the Siyakhula Education Foundation’s (SEF) Computer School in Ebony Park, as well as a key sponsor of SEF’s Ivory Park IkamvaYouth programme.
More recently, Hatch was involved in the establishment of a brand new Siyakhula Computer School in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, whereby the company is now assisting SEF in growing the social impact of the computer school through enterprise development support, which meets both a social need for affordable and accessible computer literacy training and a need for sustainable employment.
In addition to receiving praise by the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga on numerous occasions, SEF was recently awarded the Microsoft Corporate Social Investment (CSI) Partner of Year Award.
SEF programme director Andrew Barrett says that the award was made in recognition of the sustainable social impact that the Siyakhula Computer Schools are making in the communities that they operate in and their potential for growth and replication. Barrett recognised Hatch as being instrumental in the Computer Schools’ success, and as such, should share the credit of the accolade received from Microsoft with Hatch.
Kgobe concludes by saying that Hatch’s Socio-Economic Development and CSI initiatives are not bound to just South Africa. Hatch employees around the world take great pride in their communities and are encouraged to show their pride through volunteer work and charitable contributions.
In addition to providing support to student programmes and activities focused on mathematics, science and technology; Hatch also provides continuous community support through a number of activities and donations to various health and educational institutions, as well as fundraising for global charities.
Ends.
Notes to the Editor
There are numerous photographs specific to this press release. Please visit http://media.ngage.co.za and click on the Hatch link.
About Hatch
Hatch supplies process and business consulting, information technology, engineering, and project and construction management and operational services to the mining, metallurgical, energy and infrastructure industries.
Hatch Contact
Rashree Maharaj
Hatch Marketing and Communications Manager
Phone: 011 239 5300
Email: RMaharaj [at] hatch [dot] co [dot] za
Web: www.hatch.co.za
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