Consulting engineering and project management company Bosch Ulwazi – a subsidiary of the Bosch Holdings group – has been endorsed by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) as its first certified training academy.

“This ECSA initiative was a direct response to stakeholders’ concerns about rectifying the lack of support regarding the development of engineering practitioners, extending from the graduate stage to full professional registration,” explains Bosch Ulwazi MD Balan Govender.

He explains that Bosch Ulwazi’s Engineer-in-Training (EIT) programme was launched to provide opportunities for candidates to enhance their practical engineering competency to meet ECSA’s requirements for professional registration.

The company’s EIT programme, which runs over a three-year period after candidates have completed a university qualification, provides graduates with relevant and applicable work experience, together with mentorship, to enable them to meet the requirements for registration and achieve professional status with ECSA.

Although the curriculum focuses on the development of graduate engineers and project managers, Govender points out that the course content can be remodelled for graduates in other disciplines, including human resources, quantity surveyors and financial graduates.

The EIT programme currently covers six phases – orientation, site exposure, design, project management, knowledge of other disciplines, and applicable legislation.

To date, 14 engineers from the programme have registered as professionals with ECSA, while Bosch Ulwazi also assisted ten senior engineers within the Bosch Holdings group in completing their registration with ECSA for professional status as mature applicants.

The training programmes can be presented at Bosch Ulwazi’s regional offices, at clients’ offices if there is enough demand, other conference facilities and online using Microsoft Teams.

Moreover, the company has expanded its training and skills development capabilities to include consulting engineering and project management services.

“Bosch Ulwazi facilitates the development and improvement of engineering skills and businesses throughout South Africa by providing solutions for engineer development, technical training, enterprise development and socioeconomic development,” explains Bosch Ulwazi divisional manager Parellin Naidoo.

These training programmes include contract law, project management, report writing, various construction-related topics and sugar technology.

This emerging enterprise provides consulting engineering services for clients throughout the country in the private and public sectors, says Naidoo.

Meanwhile, Bosch Ulwazi is working on a project for the South African National Road Agency Limited, on the N2 between Izingolweni and Murchison in KwaZulu-Natal.

It entails providing professional services that include administration and construction monitoring of the project.

The project is worth about R60-million and is about 75% complete.

The Bosch Ulwazi team has also undertaken several engineering projects in collaboration with Bosch Projects in Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape.

The projects required the refurbishing of various water and wastewater treatment works, as well as the extension, refurbishment and construction of various buildings at Nelson Mandela University.