Media statement by Nomonde Mbadi, Executive Director of Corporate Affairs

Suresh Ramsuroop has been recently elected to serve on the Working Party in Education (WPE), which is affiliated to European Federation of Chemical Engineers (EFCE). One of the key functions of this body is to give recommendations on the current and future structure of chemical engineering qualifications in Europe, and promote co-operation and sharing of best practices in chemical engineering education. He is the only South African to be elected to this committee.

Ramsuroop, who has a keen interest in engineering curriculum design and delivery, lectures in Chemical Engineering at the Durban University of Technology. The Working Party in Education (WPE) is made up of 38 members from 22 countries in Europe. Ten of these members are from industry and 28 are academics. He is one of the only two members that are not from Europe. The other member is Prof D Shallcross from Australia. He says this committee is informed by the Bologna Process which is an undertaking to have a standardized qualification framework in Europe. The Bologna Declaration, with over 45 countries as signatories, aims to harmonise university education across the EU. It aims at a closer alignment between different countries’ programme and degree structures, ensuring that degree courses have a comparable content and take the same length of time to complete.

“It’s exciting to see what’s happening across Europe and to interact and share experiences with colleagues from various institutions there. I am confident that this will not only give DUT exposure but the University of Technology (UoT) engineering sector as a whole will benefit from my involvement in Working Party on Education,” says Ramsuroop.

Ramsuroop currently serves on the Engineering Standard Generating Group (ESGG) which is currently developing the new engineering qualification standards for higher education in South Africa. This ESGG is an affiliate of Engineering Council of South Africa. He also leads the chemical engineering curriculum design process of Universities of Technology (UoT’s) in South Africa.

For more information, please contact Bhekani Dlamini on 031 373 2845 to facilitate the interview.