Let us talk about the impact of the civil engineering surveyor
YOU will remember from my previous article that I introduced the idea of CICES taking its place in the profession and society as an environmentally and people conscious institution. I called upon our members to help shape our sustainable future by getting involved with our working groups which work across the various focus areas within CICES.
Simply email me directly if you wish to get involved and join a growing number of your colleagues who continue to give their time to support CICES in delivering its mandate, thank you.
Education and skills working group It is common knowledge that we as an industry are faced with skills retention, enhancement and growth within our profession because of the following macro socio-economic challenges:
- Retaining experienced professionals: A significant portion of the current workforce is nearing retirement, leading to a loss of knowledge from the profession.
- Attracting new entrants: There are not enough young people entering the profession, partly due to a lack of awareness and interest in civil engineering and surveying careers.
- New technology advancement: Rapid advancements in technology require continuous training and upskilling, which as professionals we need to embrace and adapt.
- Education and training gaps: Existing educational programmes alignment with the current needs of the industry and lack of coordination between course providers, prospective employers and changing students’ needs/types.
According to Infrastructure and Projects Authority Analysis of the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline 2023 published in February 2024 approximately 425,000 jobs will be needed annually through 2024-2025 to support the projected investments in infrastructure.
This workforce will need to include a mix of apprentices, technicians, graduates and experienced professionals to meet the diverse needs of these projects. The key is what positive action are we taking as an institution to influence the future landscape of our profession to meet the infrastructure development needs.
I am pleased to share that the institution’s skills working group led by John Fraser (Hexagon Geosystems) has commenced work to come up with strategies to promote:
- Apprenticeships and STEM education promotion
- Industry and academia partnerships
- Digital tools and automation
- Attracting a more diverse workforce into the civil engineering and surveying sectors
- Industry and employer organisations collaboration to raise awareness of education and skills opportunities within our profession.
Sustainability
CICES has been working with industry experts and institution staff, under the guidance of our co-chairs Dave Bennett (Topcon Positioning Systems) and Michele Victoria (Robert Gordon University) to produce the Sustainability and the Civil Engineering Surveyor White Paper.
I had a little look inside this impressive piece of work which as Dave Bennett comments: “It offers an honest assessment of the current situation and some recommended next steps to enable a more sustainable and collaborative way of working across the sector. The paper will signpost and guidelines to CPD resources to help understand the challenges and opportunities around sustainability when working as a civil engineering surveyor”.
Watch out for a series of public dissemination activities over the next few months focusing on the key conclusions from the white paper leading to its full publication later in the year.
Batsetswe Motsumi FCInstCES, President