Civil Engineering September 2021 | Vol 29 No 8

Civil Engineering September 2021 11 that there will always be a steady supply of specialists and experts in their fields. Building capacity in the public sector and industry Traditionally, the public sector was where most of the training of young professionals took place post tertiary education. These entities had well-structured training programmes, numerous mentors and many projects on which a young professional could cut their teeth. This has changed quite dramatically over the last twenty plus years and the public sector, from a tech- nical perspective, is struggling to attract and retain professionals despite various interventions that have been tried, at great expense, but generally failed. A strong technically competent public sector is essential for the whole civil en- gineering industry to thrive and needs to be the focus of not only the public sector itself, but of all stakeholders, including the Voluntary Associations. In this regard SAICE, through the advocacy platform, has reached out to the public sector to share its vision for the development of professionals and this is gaining some traction. THE BUILDING BLOCKS TO IDENTIFY EXPERTS AND SPECIALISTS Background Supporting an increased approach to skills transfer and capacity development necessitates the identification of the required skills that experts and specialists must have to assist with the development of skills. One of the major challenges is to identify and recognise the experts and specialists in the industry. Tertiary education can provide students with so much knowledge that, immediately after graduation, they may not know when and how to apply this knowledge to real life conditions. Their knowledge maybe as “disordered” as puzzle pieces after being emptied from the box. Proposed approach to identify experts and specialists Following the publication of the article titled “The DNA of Transportation”, authored by Dr Johan Bosman and Friedrich Slabbert, in the September 2018 issue of Civil Engineering (Vol.26, No.8), it has been realised that this DNA should be part of all civil engineering disciplines, not only transport engineering, as listed below: Q Q Infrastructure development Q Q Governance of the infrastructure system Q Q Associated services Q Q Development planning considering land use and social inclusion Q Q Technology in infrastructure develop- ment and operations Q Q Project financing and economic sustainability Q Q Marketing and communication in infrastructure development i.e. public participation Q Q Energy and the environment in infra- structure development Q Q Integration of infrastructure planning, design, build and operations – sustainability. Practical example using transport An example of the ordered puzzle pieces representing the overall knowledge areas UndertakesCPD tocontinueto practiseatthis level UndertakesCPD tocontinueto practiseatthis level UndertakesCPD tocontinueto practiseatthis level UndertakesCPD tocontinueto practiseatthis level UndertakesCPD tocontinueto practiseatthis level Expert Technical Manager Team Leader Independent Practice Graduate Graduation (Tertiary Education) Managesactivities ofanynaturebut usesanengineering mindset Ensures engineering decisionsare soundthrough QAprocess Supervises workofothers whomay havewider orgreater technicalskills andknowledge Checks andtakes responsibility forengineering decisions ofthose supervised Applies technical knowledgeand skillsthrough supervising othersof lessorsame competence Takes responsibility forown engineering decisions Applies technical knowledgeand skillswithout supervision Responsibility forengineering decisions takenby someoneelse Applies technical knowledgeand skillsunder supervision Inanybusinessactivityand inanykindofproblem Toanybusinessactivityhaving atechnical/engineeringbasis Inanytechnical/ engineeringproblem Incomplexengineeringactivities Tocomplexengineeringproblems Inwell-definedengineeringactivities Towell-definedengineeringproblems Inbroadly-definedengineeringactivities Tobroadly-definedengineeringproblems Technical Deepening Developing management / leadership capability Certificate (TVET) NQF 6 NQF 7 NQF 8 Figure 1 SAICE Academy professional career pathways