By Ing. Yayah A.B. Conteh
This article, in essence, endeavours to give a glimpse into the engineering and technical education at tertiary institutions in Sierra Leone. It examines the various factors affecting the quality of such an education at this level and some of the ways by which the fall in quality can be revamped.
It must firstly be borne in mind that engineering falls amongst those disciplines of the natural sciences where one is undoubtedly required to exercise a genius of an unusually high degree through the applications of scientific principles in the design, building and control of machines, roads, bridges and electrical components, etc., amongst other definitions.
It is significant to recognize the fact that engineering is more than just simply comprehending the basic rudiments of science. It goes beyond that and is basically viewed as a vocational discipline, which depends on the sound comprehension of scientific principles backed by appropriate mathematical applications to conceive and actually bring to fruition any meaningful project for the benefit of mankind.
Although the present problems, inherent in engineering education in Sierra Leonean universities and polytechnics, have been articulated by many well informed functionaries in the academic arena for the attention of the political elites in the past, yet the concerns they advanced towards the actualization of this virtually fell on deaf ears or were perceived with some indifference.
No wonder the universities have been churning out a steady flow of graduates who possess low practical knowledge and lack the confidence on the job when confronted with the reality on the ground.
Most governments, especially African governments wielding the reins of power, seem completely oblivious, or rather pretend to be so, of the fact that the day-to-day technological innovations in the world came about as a result of the trained personnel in the field of engineering and technology – that the technological and industrial development of any nation depends on its ability to develop its citizens towards the judicious harnessing of its human resources, especially in the area of science and engineering.
Ill-informed citizens of our country have always gone with the erroneous concept that the future of our nation depends on the numerous natural resources it possesses, in this case, our diamonds, titanium oxide or rutile and iron ore, etc. This is quite untrue and should be dismissed as a mere figment of the imagination, even with some of our citizens, particularly in governmental circles, who are quite knowledgeable on this issue but divert attention elsewhere.
The future of any nation therefore does not only depend on its numerous natural resources but the specialized engineering skills, competence and the ability of its populace to harness and utilize the resources in the most judicious ways for the technological and industrial development of that nation.
Our government, therefore, should pay great attention to the development of quality engineering education in our universities and polytechnics, as it is the bedrock to economic, social and technological development in any country, which is due to its being associated with all aspects of human activity.
What does this in essence entails?
This, in essence, means that the challenges and setbacks, crippling the quality of engineering education in our universities and polytechnics, must be confronted head on and solutions sought to remedy them accordingly.
This would have meant that the quality of engineering graduates, from these institutions, would have improved enormously. The quality of these graduates, on graduation, would no longer be questionable by employing agencies as is presently the case. The issue would no longer be a major concern even when absorbed by some industries skeptical of their output and performance.
The university engineering education and training, in Sierra Leone, is beset by a number of challenges.
Although our tertiary institutions are faced with enormous challenges and inadequacies, in terms of general conduct of engineering education programmes, which have failed to equip our new graduates with the necessary skills and technical knowhow to cope with the challenges of the modern day society, yet we observe that not all of them are government oriented. Quite a few of them emanate too from within the weak university structural system, as can be seen from the under mentioned highlights:
1. The most important of all the challenges, to me, perhaps, is the poor enumeration and low staff morale. It is indeed no exaggeration, at all, when it is widely held in some institutions of higher learning that, if appropriate level of funding is established and maintained, many of the other problems bedeviling the universities would be a thing of the past. In other words, they would cease to exist. The relatively unattractive remuneration package has been the main impediment of staff insufficiency in the universities. This has resulted in highly qualified personnel opting for jobs in the mining and financial sectors, etc., where the pay package is much more encouraging and acceptable. The handful of staff personnel who get attracted to the universities hold the appointments as temporary springboards, from where they can leap to, more rewarding employment once the opportunity arises.
This, in itself, serves as one of the impediments that cause an attendant decline in the quality of products from the university. It is therefore the bounden duty of any responsible government to always look into this issue and address it accordingly.
2. The inadequacy of infrastructural facilities, for the teaching of engineering facilities in Sierra Leone, poses yet another challenge in this direction.
Stakeholders of engineering education, in our tertiary institutions, have always bemoaned the dilapidation of our laboratories where most of the vital experiments, related to the course structure, are conducted. Equally, the bulk of the equipment housed in these laboratories are obsolete and need replacement altogether. In line with these dilapidated laboratories, most of these pieces of equipment have outlived their usefulness, the majority, if not all, having been in existence since the establishment of the university, or can I say, before the era of independence. Hence they are completely obsolete for the current training programmes of our graduates. Government should not only ensure that these facilities be upgraded to meet modern day standards but that the pieces of equipment they contain be replaced-if not all at a go-but from time to time in order to enhance good quality engineering products from the corridors of our universities.
3. A review of the engineering education curriculum is also a MUST. Topics and research oriented aspects, embedded in the present curriculum, should be thoroughly reviewed from time to time by the authorities or stakeholders concerned in order to match up with world standards. This would help guide and equip our graduates with the skills needed in their specific areas of specialization and provide room, too, for them to compete internationally.
Space should also be created in the updated curriculum in order to capture aspects of engineering applications prevalent in our society today.
Since the quality of engineering graduates, from universities and polytechnics, has been a major concern by the industries in which most of them are eventually absorbed after graduation, the curriculum should be tailored in such a way that the high level of retraining of these graduates would have addressed this challenge.
Consequently, therefore, for engineering education to fully support economic growth, there should be provisions for a change in part of the curriculum that would be pertinent in finding solutions to the numerous problems of our country, which are also not constant and changing from time to time.
4. Another monumental challenge, confronting the quality of engineering education in our tertiary institutions, is the low entry standards set to admit students.
It has been observed that the bulk of entrants, into our universities for degrees in engineering, constitute those students who have sprung immediately from secondary schools and whose knowledge about the profession is extremely poor. The few entrants who are a bit knowledgeable about the profession come from vocational institutes or similar bodies.
The stipulated entry level requirements, for admission into the university, say, (the compulsory passing of five subjects at the Ordinary or WASCE Levels at not more than two sittings, or two subjects at the Advanced Level at not more than one sitting, etc.,) are not strictly adhered to. This has hampered the quality of our graduates as it provides a loophole for the admission of weak students who cannot cope with the rigours of the course structures.
Even students who are weak in the English Language and have never passed it, or who barely passed it with weak grades, are admitted into the curriculum. Some of the extra lessons, conducted for them in this language, in order to match up to expected standards, are hastily done, eventually leaving the student poorly recompensed, for he remains as empty as ever in this vital language, which, undoubtedly, is the language of instruction in his field of passion.
Time indeed for the university stakeholders looked into this issue as it poses a thorny challenge to the quality of the finished products.
5. The low level of funding, of our universities, which rely predominantly on the government, is yet another factor militating against the quality of engineering education in our tertiary institutions.
Due to low funding, obtained from government, in order to run our tertiary institutions, it has always been extremely difficult to effectively carry out experiments for students, thus making the teaching and research, in science and technology, a herculean task, with the consequent result that the university ends up producing inadequate and ill-prepared technical education graduates incapable of propelling the technological and socio-economic development of our country.
The university authorities, concerned, would have breathed a big sigh of relief by government looking into this in order to enhance a complete positive turn around.
6. The quality of engineering education, in our tertiary institutions, is also challenged by the problem of continuity in engineering education facilities.
In many developing countries, like Sierra Leone, the universities are understaffed and poorly equipped. As a result of the poor enumeration packages, received by staff members or lecturers, it is not uncommon for them to suffer massive brain drain from some of these proclaimed professionals who prefer to go in search of greener pastures further afield.
Indeed there is a limitation in the development and provision of courses for continuing engineering students. There is normally a poor response from the government and other sponsoring agencies for the few courses offered to some deserving students in order to pursue further studies abroad.
The poor or little awareness, therefore, of the significance of continuing engineering education studies, mostly abroad, including the near complete absence of their programmes and facilities in our universities and polytechnics, have posed serious pitfalls in the upgrading, diversifying and broadening aspects of our engineering education system.
And an engineer, of whatever standing in society, must constantly engage himself to always study if he is to be abreast with the ever changing technological landscape of our developing countries and the world at large.
There are so many other challenges and factors, apart from the above mentioned, affecting the quality of engineering and technical education in tertiary institutions in Sierra Leone. Suffice it to say that the ones already highlighted, in this article, stand out prominent amongst the rest. A solution to them means a solution to the rest of others not highlighted.
By way of concluding, one must not remain hesitant to point out, here, that the curriculum in our tertiary institutions of engineering education needs to be reviewed in order to produce exceptionally sound and well grounded graduates that would be in a position to compete with their counterparts internationally.
Cognizance of the fact that engineering education is indeed one of the strongest pillars of economic growth and national development of any country, government should create the platform for the provision of adequate funds that would not only be utilized in the creation of national skills centres and infrastructural facilities, the purchase of up-to-date equipment, etc., but that these funds would also go to cater for the welfare of the lecturers and other related staff who constitute the pivot around which the successes and failure of these tertiary institutions revolve.
Ing. Yayah A.B. Conteh is the Director of the Mechanical Services Department (MSD) of the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA).
Tel. Nos: 076640364/077718805.
E-mail: contehyayahab2020@gmail.com. or
contehyayahab@yahoo.com.