Industrial engineering as a career choice at the University of Johannesburg

Abstract: Internationally the demand for industrial engineers is growing, due to the economic downturn as well as constraints on natural resources. Yet, at the University of Johannesburg, the majority of students who seek admittance to the engineering faculty do not choose industrial engineering as their first choice. A quantitative study was done by surveying industrial engineering students in the first and second year, to determine the number of engineering students at UJ whose first choice was industrial engineering. In addition the satisfaction with the course of those students who did not choose it originally was determined. We investigated the impact of open days and engineering weeks, as arranged by the University, on pupils’ choice of industrial engineering? The study found that a large portion of students did not choose industrial engineering as their first choice and it seems to be due to a total lack of knowledge with regard to industrial engineering. The perceptions of school pupils of engineering need to be changed and issues with the current standard of high school mathematics need to be explored further. The question to ask is: How can we improve the marketing of industrial engineering as a career

Improving employability skills of students through laboratory and practical work

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss laboratory work and hands on training that will be offered in the new curriculum; Bachelor of Engineering Technology Degree (BEngTech) in Industrial Engineering Technology at the University of Johannesburg. The university has introduced a new 3 year curriculum, BEngTech, across its technology based programmes. The new curriculum will be rolled out for the first time in 2017. The university is currently phasing out the National Diploma and Bachelor of Technology degrees. The new BEngTech curriculum does not have the traditional one year Work Integrated Learning component that used to be part of the National Diploma, hence the need to include new practical based laboratories. The practical work in the new BEngTech degree has been designed to improve the employability of the BEngTech graduates..

Business process analysis of a South African state-funded health care facility

The environment in South Africa has changed dramatically with regard to health services during the past five years especially for state-funded hospitals in the public sector. At the Johannesburg Hospital the admittance of chronic patients has increased considerably over the past five years, thus increasing the workload for the physiotherapists. In spite of the increased workload the staff complement of the Physiotherapy Department has decreased from forty-one to eighteen staff members due to the severe budget constraints. This investigation was initiated to determine whether the department was operating optimally under present conditions, and what the major problem areas were. This document describes the methods used and results obtained during the investigation. Several known techniques such as the brainstorming and nominal group technique were used during the facilitation of workshops. Timesheets were completed over a six-month period and interviews were held with the personnel in the department. The approach followed with the statistical analysis of the timesheets was to use confidence intervals to compare the standard treatment times with the actual treatment times. Hypotheses testing were used to determine whether it would be possible to standardise on similar treatments in different treatment areas. The required capacity was calculated based on the amount of time spent on direct patient care by the physiotherapists during the six-month period of the investigation. Several major issues were identified during the workshops that need to be addressed. Important conclusions drawn were that there was indeed a shortage of staff in the physiotherapy department. It also became clear that standardisation of treatments in different treatment areas is not possible. There is a need for a recognition system and teambuilding exercises, which should have a favourable impact on the motivation of employees. A maintenance plan for equipment needs to be implemented and interdepartmental communication needs to improve.Dissertation (MEng (Industrial Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006.Industrial and Systems Engineeringunrestricte