Doctorate degrees in engineering declining

[Richard Akindele]

THE Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) says the number of graduates in the country enrolling for doctorate degrees in engineering has declined.

President of the society, Mr Emeka Ezeh, made the observation in Abuja last weekend when the executive members of the society visited the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun.

Ezeh also said that there was a high migration of academic staff from the universities to the ministries.

"While it is necessary for the academic staff to interact with the industry, virtual abandonment of the academic work to the ministries would not do the nation any good," he said.

"Hardly had any professor gone back to the university after being seconded to the ministry, " he observed, adding that the Ministry of Science and Technology needed to alert the nation on the dangerous trend.

He called on government to grant automatic scholarship to first class graduates in science and technology as a measure to stem the tide on the decline in Ph.D. enrolment.

"Also the condition of service for academic staff should be reviewed with a view to retaining the professors in the universities," he added.

He told the minister to always keep the engineers current in their profession by engaging them in the engineering projects of the ministry.

"They must continuously learn and re-learn. Apart from attending workshops and seminars, the best way to learn is through experience," he said.

He noted that public service engineers by public service rule were barred from private practice.

According to him, the rule does not encourage the desired continuous learning, and it is the same engineers at senior level that are constantly called to evaluate, design, assess, supervise and manage projects, which most times run into billions of naira

"If an engineer never had the opportunity of being in a project, he may get promoted within the system to a level where knowledge of the experience at a lower level is of paramount necessity for effective performance at the new higher level," he said.

Source: Vanguard