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National Engineering Students Awards Competition (NESAC)

National Engineering Students Awards Competition (NESAC)

Engineering Expo

Engineering Expo

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CAREER GUIDANCE

 NUST – SMALL TO MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) PARTNERSHIPS

NUST – SMALL TO MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) PARTNERSHIPS

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National Engineering Students Awards Competitions

The Faculty participates in the annual competition which started in 2014 as a brain child of the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers (ZIE). NESAC is an annual event where final year engineering students from Universities and Polytechnics in Zimbabwe compete on their final year engineering projects. A panel of judges selected from specialist engineering disciplines and from industry are selected to adjudicate on the projects. In 2018, the Faculty hosted the National Engineering Students Awards Competition (NESAC 2018), which was attended by five Universities and four Polytechnics.

Proceedings of the National Engineering Students Awards Competitions (NESAC) 2019
Date: Wednesday 29 May 2019
Venue: NUST Delta Lecture Theatre
Director of Ceremonies: Dr.B. Mtunzi
Guest of Honour: Eng. E. Gwatidzo (representing Mr Gwanetsa from How Mine)
 
Introductions
The NUST Engineering Students Awards Competition (NUSTESAC) was incorporated to run on the second day of the Inaugural Engineering EXPO and Open day, which would be the norm in the years to come. It was held on the 29th of May 2019, in the NUST Delta Lecture Theatre, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
 Dean of Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Eng. W. Goriwondo introduced notable guests. He acknowledged the presence of the Acting Vice Chancellor of NUST Dr. G. Mazithulela, the Guest of Honour Eng. E. Gwatidzo (Operations Manager of How Mine), NUSTESAC Chairperson, Directors, Deans of Faculties, adjudicators, captains of industry, students, participants and visitors from various polytechnics. He also gave housekeeping issues for the event.

Welcome remarks (NUST Acting VC - Dr. Mazithulela on behalf of the Vice Chancellor Prof M.E Dlodlo)
Prof. M.E Dlodlo, Vice Chancellor of NUST welcomed everyone and acknowledged the presence of the Guest speaker, Eng. E. Gwatidzo from How Mine, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, NUSTESAC Chairperson, students, Deans, lecturers, judges, sponsors, NUSTESAC organizing members, ZIE staff and captains of industry who were present. He recognized as well the presence of 5 departments from the Faculty of Engineering where the competing students were coming from. His opening statement was Albeit Einstein’s words that, “In the middle of difficulties lies opportunities”. He reiterated that we should be the greatest community of peacemakers, engineers who take risks since jobs of the future need their skills and intellectual curiosity. He pointed out that NUSTESAC is training students to identify problems, implement the solutions and validate the solution. He also pointed out the need for engineers to have a high level of understanding about their need to solve problems. The Vice Chancellor spoke on the need for Engineers to commercialize their innovations through innovation parks as he emphasized on the Education 5.0 as recently pronounced by the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science Development and Technology Development . He said the modernization and industrialization agenda can only be achieved through fully utilisation of the engineering profession, through collaboration of universities and industry which is important for the growth and development of the country. In his closing words, he encouraged educational institutions to work with the industry in a bid to actively monitor upcoming engineers from as early as high school and then declared the event officially open.

Guest of Honour: Eng. E. Gwatidzo (How Mine)
Eng. E. Gwatidzo was the Guest of Honour representing Mr. Gwanetsa from How Mine. He started off his speech by acknowledging the presence of NUST AVC, Pro VC, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, NUSTESAC Chairperson, Lecturers and all the other people present. Eng. Gwatidzo said that he was so honoured to be the Guest of Honour since at How Mine they have employed and continue to employ and attach engineering graduates of NUST. He spoke of the importance of connecting students to industry and that should start at grassroots level. He said that students should take advantage of the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business mantra”. Eng. Gwatidzo reiterated the theme of the Engineering Expo –“harnessing partnerships and stakeholder engagement for sustainable engineering education at NUST”. Eng. Gwatidzo talked about the need for students to know what is happening in industry and this can be made possible through industrial visits, attachment and internship. He said that Zimbabwe needs local solutions and that the NUSTESAC platform brings intellect of various Engineering fields. He appealed to industry to continue developing the projects presented at the competitions and adopt the prototypes for commercialization. In conclusion, he encouraged the Engineer students of today to find ways of being relevant to industry and communities.

Judges’ comments.
Judges drawn from industry and academia presided over the engineering competitions. The judges pointed out the creativity which was presented by the students and also their ability to address local problems using local solutions. They encouraged commercialization of the projects as a way of solving some of the prevailing economic challenges.

NUSTESAC 2019 Competition Results (ORAL PRESENTATIONS):
The results of the NUSTESAC 2019 are shown in the Table below. Caroll Madzura (Female student) from Electronic Engineering Department emerged the winner, followed by Darlington Chambe (Male student) also from the Electronic Engineering Department. The two students would be representing NUST in the National Engineering Students Awards Competitions (NESAC) to be held in October 2019.

No.

Name

Department

Project Title

1

Caroll Madzura

Electronics Engineering

Smart Park, Allocator, Manager and Guide

2

Darlington Chambe

Electronics Engineering

Distribution Transformer health monitoring and protection system

3

Chidochashe Karen Siyavora

Chemical Engineering

Bioplastic production from agricultural waste

4

Tatenda Zemayema

 

Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering

Design of a tobacco solar thermal drying system integrated with an Arduino based drying control system

5

Tatenda Muzagwa

Chemical Engineering

Bio-briquetting of waste coal fines with agricultural waste as source of energy

6

Sosten Magweva

Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering

Design of automatic solar multi-fruit drying system

7

Chantelle G T Mhlanga         

Fibre & Polymer Materials Engineering

Development of a leather – kapok composite

7

Tapiwa Sithole           

Civil & Water Engineering

Alleviation of housing crisis in Zimbabwe’s urban centers using modular construction

9

Ntokozo Brendon Ncube

Civil and Water Engineering

Optimization of the water distribution network in Bulawayo. A case study of Entumbane

10

Arshlee T Kafata

Fibre & Polymer Materials Engineering

Developing electrostatic dissipative gloves using carbon black filler and polyurethane adhesive



Competition Results (POSTER):
Forgiveness Mwaturura from Electronic Engineering Department emerged in the winner in the Poster presentations, followed by Nomatemba Ndlovu (Female Student) from Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department. These two would be representing NUST in the Poster Presentation Competitions that would be held in October 2019. The full results of the Poster presentations are shown in the Table below.

No.

Name

Department

 

1

Mwaturura Forgiveness Proceed

Electronic Engineering

Automatic cooling system malfunction detection control

2

Nomathemba Ndlovu

 

Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering

Design of a white board marker refilling machine

3

Peace Muusha

 

Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering

Design and fabrication of a small-scale solar maize dryer with automated dryer control

4

Denis Chakawa

 

Chemical Engineering

Use of calcium sulfate dehydrate as a bleaching agent for soyabean vegetable oil

5

Rufaro Musharo

Chemical Engineering

Antibacterial soap production from pawpaw and pine resin

6

Nancy Tendai Mashiri

 

Electronics Engineering

Electronic navigation system for visually impaired

7

Joseph Mlambo

 

Civil & Water Engineering

Development of a bridge health monitoring mobile application. Case study Birchenough Bridge

8

Bubuya Zelembu Dube

 

Civil & Water Engineering

Intelligent transport system design for the A7 highway to improve traffic safety

 
Closing remarks by
Dr N. Tayisepi (Acting Chairperson: IME) gave the closing remarks and thanked all the forces which made the event a success.

Students and Industry players following proceedings at the NESAC 2018 competitions

The Guest of Honour Dr Ngangezwe Khumalo (General Manager - PPC) and Dr Gloria Kodzwa (sponsor of the floating trophies and shields for the NESAC competitions) gives a token of appreciation to one of the Judges at NESAC 2018 competitions, while Eng. Thamsnqa Mpala looks on.

Professor Mqhele Dlodlo (Vice Chancellor) welcoming delegates to the NESAC 2018 competitions in the Delta Lecture Theatre

Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa (HEP SSA) project on Enhancing Engineering Education sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) was executed during the period 2016 – 2018.

The Faculty was awarded a grant on Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa (HEP-SSA) and ran it during the period 2016 – 2018. The project sort to enhance engineering education.

Original objectives of the project were:
  1. To develop and strengthen relationships between academia and industry through secondment programmes to bridge skill and knowledge deficiencies.
  2. To enable curriculum review contribution from the industrialists through the interaction with our Members of Staff to maintain local and regional relevancy.
  3. To enable curriculum review contribution from the International Visiting Fellow for international relevancy.
  4. To further solidify collaboration in teaching and research with local and regional spoke partners.
  5. To foster knowledge and skills sharing using seminars, workshops and conferences.
 
Achievements

Collaboration with  the  UK  Partner  was  strengthened  as  Prof.  Esther  Ventura Medina  from  the  University  of  Strathclyde,  UK  visited  and  was  hosted  in  the Chemical  Engineering  Department  at  NUST. She held various  seminars  and workshops on engineering curriculum development and new methods of teaching with emphasis on problem based learning.

Curriculum review workshop for the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering was held at Cresta  Churchill  hotel, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Participants from industry and academia contributed to the curriculum review thereby making it relevant to industry needs.

Secondment of junior academic staff to industry was done and industry – academia partnerships were strengthened.
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