The WFEO – IEA Mentoring Project that was established in November 2019, achieved its first success with the approval of the Institution of Engineers Mauritius (IEM) as a provisional signatory of the International Engineering Alliance (IEA), at their annual meeting in Delhi on 12th June 2024.
Signatory status at the International Engineering Alliance provides mutual recognition of engineering qualifications across more than 30 nations. The successful outcome for IEAM has been achieved after just 3 years of the WFEO-IEA collaboration for mentoring more WFEO members to achieve this status. This collaboration was initiated by former WFEO President Dr Marlene Kanga AO who led the project with generous mentoring support from Prof Sanjay Agrawal, National Board of Accreditation, India and Prof Brandon Collier, Engineering Council of South Africa, both IEA signatories and with administrative support from the WFEO Committee for Education in Engineering, hosted by the Myanmar Engineering Council. The process generally takes 10 years.
The delegation from the Institution of Engineers Mauritius, celebrating their approval as a provisional signatory of the International Engineering Alliance, 12 June 2024, New Delhi.
The achievement is also the result of significant effort by the IEM President Raj Prayag, who held close to the vision of international recognition of engineering education qualifications in Mauritius, and IEM leadership. They were untiring in their efforts to complete all requirements for signatory status and were supported by the Mauritius Ministry of Science and Technology, the Mauritius Tertiary Education Commission, the Council for the Professional Regulation of Engineers, and the Mauritius Quality Assurance Authority for Education.
The journey involved 6 weekly virtual meetings to discuss and implement the procedural and administrative requirements of the IEA, which were completed in record time during 2021 and face to face visits made in June 2022, after the COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions were lifted to all three universities in Mauritius, including:
- University of Mauritius – Civil and Chemical & Environmental engineering programs
- University de Mascareignes – Civil engineering program
- University of Technology – Electrical & Electronics and Telecommunications engineering programs
Announcement of new members approved at the annual meeting of the International Engineering Alliance, 12 June 2024, New Delhi.
Discussions between the mentors and IEM continued during 2023 with a formal accreditation visit by the mentors to two universities to assess and accredit two engineering programs in 2023 as well as review progress made in implementing the recommendations made after the visit in 2022. Dr Sanjay Agrawal also conducted training sessions for the education assessors in 2022 and 2023. Assessors also accessed the WFEO Academy to develop their understanding of the IEA Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies and other content relating to curriculum development and engineering education pedagogies, to align with the expectations of the International Engineering Alliance. An extensive application with reports of the activities in 2022 and 2023 was made to the IEA in good time for the review by all signatories prior to the meeting in June 2024.
WFEO sincerely appreciates the efforts of the mentors, Dr Sanjay Agrawal of the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) India, who volunteered his time to mentor and support IEA since 2022 and attended the meetings in New Delhi to respond to queries from IEA signatories. Sincere thanks also to Prof Brandon Collier who volunteered his time to provide mentoring support on behalf of the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). Out thanks also to NBA and ECSA and their leadership for nominating the mentoring experts to support this important project.
Mauritius is just the second nation to start the journey to full signatory status. Only ECSA (South Africa) is a full signatory and the Council for Registered Engineers Nigeria (COREN) became a provisional signatory in 2023.
The approval is the first stage to full signatory status that will ensure that engineering degrees in Mauritius are at international standard, and recognized as equivalent to those in other IEA signatory nations and importantly, ensures the quality of engineering work in Mauritius, which is well-correlated with economic prosperity.
Needless to say there was a great deal of joy at the outcome. The approval is a great example of how WFEO can fulfil its mandate, for projects with actions that have impact and that build capacity in engineering for its members, using its network of experts who volunteer their time for more engineers with the right skills in regions where they are needed most.
Article by Dr Marlene Kanga, WFEO President 2017-2019.
For more information:
WFEO Progresses Capacity Building in Mauritius with site visits to all universities” article
JUN
2024