The Chairman of the Forum Organising Committee, African Engineering Education Forum (AEEF), USA, Engr. Brijmohan Yashin, has called for engineering education to be more intentional, especially in Africa.
He made this call in his opening address at the AEEF organised by the African Engineering Education Association (AEEA) and the Federation of African Engineering Organisations (FAEO) in partnership with the African Engineering Deans Council (AEDC) and the University of Lagos.
The hybrid forum held from Monday, October 2 to Thursday, October 5, 2023 at the Arthur Mbanefo Digital Research Centre, UNILAG, had a large number of physical and online participants who presented papers pertaining to the topic of discourse.
Engr. Yashin also charged African researchers to carry out evidence-based research and encouraged universities to develop engineering education centres within Africa.
The forum kicked off with a brief ceremony during which the Chairman, Forum Organising Committee (Nigeria) and immediate past Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Funso Falade shared the origin of the AEEA. He disclosed that the Association was birthed after the 3rd edition of the African Regional Conference on Engineering Education (ARCEE) held in University of Pretoria in 2006. According to him, it was formed with the aim of promoting excellent quality education in various engineering disciplines in Africa; bridging the North-South divide as well as encouraging the involvement of the Africans in Diaspora in the development of engineering education in Africa through exchange programmes.
He further noted that the theme of the Forum, ‘Strengthening Engineering Education in Africa through Innovative Collaboration’, emphasizes innovative collaboration among the stakeholders as an effective strategy for the training of 21st-century engineers that will transform the industrial landscape in Africa.
The Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Obanisola Sadiq represented by the Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Sunday Ojolo emphasised the need for engineering lecturers to arm themselves with requisite skills so that they can pass on knowledge which will produce globally competitive students. He highlighted the need for collaboration between the faculty of engineering and other faculties, and charged all participants to deploy the skills gained at the forum across universities.
In his remarks, the President-elect of the World Federation of Engineering Organization (WFEO), Engineer Mustafa B. Shehu, stressed the importance of professional recognition within Africa to be taken seriously, as Africa is where opportunities abound. President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Engr. Prof. S. Z. Abubakar, charged Nigeria in his goodwill message to wake up and change its narrative regarding engineering education.
The 4-day event featured a roundtable discussion as well as physical and online presentations of sixteen (16) keynote papers by top-notch professionals. These papers focused on proffering solutions to challenges in the training of engineering professionals, contents of the engineering curricula, pedagogy, partnership between university and industry, and international collaboration in research & training.
