Creating
critical mass for the transportation engineering sector University of Pretoria (UP) South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
South Africa’s transportation engineering sector is facing many challenges, including limited training to bridge the current knowledge gap, and a shortage of training and testing facilities. It was against this backdrop that SANRAL, the University of Pretoria and the CSIR embarked on a collaborative partnership to establish the stateof-the-art Engineering 4.0 facility. South Africa is faced with a dire lack of civil engineers compared with other countries. In its Infrastructure Report Card, the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) indicated that Europe, North America, India and China have one engineer for every 130 to 450 inhabitants. In South Africa, this ratio is one engineer for every 3 200 inhabitants. This disadvantage applies equally to technologists, technicians and artisans, leading to a lack of quality personnel throughout the transportation sector. The result is a technical skills gap with regard to project quality control and quality assurance.
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