On 25 February Emperors Palace in South Africa hosted the first EIT Graduation Gala in Africa since the Covid-19 pandemic started.
It’s been three years in the making, but new graduates could celebrate their accomplishments last month. On 25 February Emperors Palace in South Africa hosted the first EIT Graduation Gala in Africa since the Covid-19 pandemic started.
EIT’s head office is located in Perth, Australia, and EIT has campuses in both Perth and Melbourne. However, EIT has a South African office that assists with growing operations in African countries. EIT’s South African office is based in Johannesburg and this is where the Graduation Gala 2022 took place.
A Graduation Gala in Australia was postponed till November 2022 in response to current WA Government COVID guidelines.
Graduates from 2019, 2020 and 2021 were able to put on a robe and receive physical confirmation of their hard work to pass a variety of EIT courses.
Many new graduates received their diplomas on the day, with even more joining the coinciding online graduation ceremony.
“At any point in time we have over 2,000 students from over 150 countries studying through EIT,” says David Gadjus, General Manager of EIT in South Africa.
“It has been a long journey to get to a point where we can have a graduation ceremony again, and your support has been vital,” he told students.
David has been leading the team of EIT employees to assist students for the last two years as the pandemic halted in-person education and graduation festivities.
The reason EIT showed such strong graduates was because of the personal and supported approach that has been branded with EIT – and the students proved their mettle in the online learning environment. “This has been the key,” said David.
He mentioned that Learning Support Officers and the South African team continuedly pushed through the limitations of the pandemic to assist student success stories.
The same success has been emulated in the South African office of EIT which grew substantially in the last 20 months.
According to David, the team has grown from 10 to 26 employees – as a direct response to meeting the needs of students in Africa and the rest of the world.
Students now have access to six Course Advisors, seven Learning Support Officers, a full-time lecturer, six accounting, administration and facilities staff members as well as a local marketing coordinator working from the South African hub.
Our Dean Dr Steve Mackay also joined the graduation from Australia, praising the students from Africa who successfully completed their courses in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
He also mentioned the exceptional growth of EIT in the last few years, and how it is strengthening engineering education globally.
He mentioned some of the highlights within EIT over the last couple of years within the organization and the South African office.
The highlights include:
- In 2021 EIT won the National Export Award for Education and Training award.
- In 2021 we were rated ‘Top Engineering Undergraduate Experience’ in the Australian Government QILT survey which canvasses all Australian universities.
- EIT is poised to open a campus in Midrand, South Africa for students who want to embark on a Bachelor’s degree with EIT. The full-fledged campus will feature an engineering lab, library, and student-focused amenities.
- In Australia EIT is working towards gaining University College Status.
Mackay, the Dean Of Engineering at EIT, is set to visit South Africa again in March, a trip he’s excited for.
“I will be visiting Johannesburg and Cape Town – after a long hiatus. We will run a seminar in the Midrand office and in a hotel venue in Cape Town,” he imparted.
It is however the global reach of an EIT qualification that has special meaning for Steve.
” You are now part of our incredible team of alumni which stretches around the globe,” he said.
These alumni are not only strengthened by the quality of graduates but also by the fact that many of the graduates undertake lifelong learning to uphold the status of engineering professionals globally.
One of the keynote speakers on the day was Suzanne Hattingh, a well-known South African learning performance lecturer and educator.
She gave focus on Industry 4.0, and how today’s jobs might not be relevant tomorrow, but with a glint in the eye emphasized how engineers, like the graduates on the day, have opportunities in this changing world.
Suzanne highlighted ten essential things students need to have, and it aligns with EIT’s ideals of lifelong learning and adaptable education that is current to the field of engineering.
10 Tips for students
- Be creative and innovative
- Have cognitive flexibility and cognitive load management
- Have complex problem solving skills and the ability to evaluate situations and respond quickly to them
- Have resilience when it comes to changes
- Always have technological literacy so you can add value alongside machines and new technologies
- Trans-disciplinarily and the ability to work across various disciplines and specialisations, or have working knowledge of different fields.
- Be collaborative in virtual cross-functional teams
- Have entrepreneurial skills and the ability to create your own work or income
- Have deep-rooted learning skills
- Have a passion and commitment toward lifelong learning
After Suzaan’s speech, it was finally time for EIT to call over 80 graduates on the day that was able to attend the ceremony.
The ceremony ended with some of our latest Master of Engineering graduates, one of the latest higher education additions at EIT.
Please join us in congratulating all the graduates at EIT and wishing them a successful and fulfilling career.
