Training engineers in the third world context: The hidden curriculum

Traditionally, the Engineering Faculty at the University of Pretoria has selected its students from white, male, Afrikaans-speaking students. These now constitute approximately 4% of the population and the indications are that the future ratio will be even smaller. With few exceptions, the Engineering Faculty students still come from this group. It is pointed out that, if more engineers are to be trained, one must exploit the resources of the whole population. To this end, the Engineering Faculty is doing the following: bridging courses for underprepared students are offered in the physical sciences; engineering courses will be offered in English from 1994; and main stream training in electronic engineering will make the hidden curriculum of engineering training explicit and offer tuition in the neglected competencies required for the profession.<
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