ACTOM’s Chairman, Andries Mthethwa was honoured by the University of Pretoria in April this year in recognition of his contributions to industry, society and the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment & Information Technology over the past seven years as a member of the Faculty’s Industrial Advisory Board.
Andries displays the Chancellor’s Medal and Certificate he was awarded by University of Pretoria in April.
The University’s prestigious Chancellor’s Medal (Gold) was presented to Andries by Prof Wiseman Nkuhlu, the Chancellor, on 19th April 2021 at the start of the virtual graduation ceremony for under-graduate and post-graduate students in the Faculty who completed their studies in the 2020 academic year.
At the invitation of the University, Andries gave a speech as part of the Chancellor’s Medal award presentation. In the speech, delivered mainly for the benefit of the new graduates who attended the graduation ceremony online, he focussed attention on the challenging circumstances that the majority of engineering graduates entering the job market could expect to have difficulty securing a job in their chosen field, despite the well-known fact that engineers are in short supply in Southern Africa.
He further emphasised the need for engineering graduates to engage in continuous professional development, especially in view of the rapidly evolving digital and information technologies.
He urged graduates to strive to come to terms with the need to acquire extra skills to add to their engineering qualification to improve their chances of being employed in the current difficult economic climate. They should therefore set out to learn management, sales, marketing, commercial and accounting skills, among others, to add to their technical qualifications.
“I would also advise you to give serious consideration to the idea of launching your own business and start taking the necessary steps towards achieving this. In short, start exploring ways of establishing yourself as an entrepreneur, thereby becoming a job creator rather than a job seeker,” he suggested.
“This potentially offers better job security and a clearer career path than if you are exposed as an employee to the vagaries of a struggling economy,” he added.