The design of a leadership development programme for women engineering students at a South African University

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition among educators, researchers, government and industry of the imperative to educate women engineering students in life and leadership skills that complement their engineering competence. It is believed that this combination will contribute greatly to the attraction and retention of women in the engineering field. The School of Engineering at a South African comprehensive university based in Port Elizabeth, offers formal qualifications in electrical, industrial, civil and mechanical engineering in addition to a degree in mechatronics. To ensure that the School of Engineering provides a comprehensive curriculum, the university offers various informal courses, maintains close links with industry, and service departments assist with co-curricular activities and student developmental activities. One of the initiatives housed in the School of Engineering is WELA (Women in Engineering Leadership Association) which is one of five projects initiated and managed by the University and the merSETA (manufacturing, engineering and related services sector education and training authority) chair in engineering development. WELA commenced in 2011 with the goal of focusing on the academic, professional and personal development of women in engineering. Further to these goals, the WELA leadership development programmme was designed based on the university values, graduate skills required by industry, input from women engineers, women engineering students and other national and international leadership development programmes. The objectives of this paper are to provide a theoretical basis for the design of a leadership development programmme; to provide insight into the process of developing a leadership development programmme specifically for women engineering students at a South African university in the African context; and to propose an evaluation process for the programme. The findings will be used to provide guidelines for the engineering leadership development programmme design specifically for higher education in Southern Africa. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2013.