DAVID FURLONGER: Back to the automotive classroom
Automotive skills development needs an education rethink
It’s time for South Africa to play leapfrog, says Ford Africa president Neale Hill. The country’s education system is an unqualified mess, causing untold skills problems for the motor industry, among others. But if our sole ambition, as it appears to be, is to not fall too far behind the rest of the world, then we’re doomed to continuous failure.
Instead, he says South Africa needs a concerted effort to catch up and even overtake other countries in skills development. Thabo Shenxane, CEO of the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC) in the Eastern Cape, says current South African engineering qualifications, including university degrees, don’t meet the needs of the modern South African motor industry, particularly as it prepares to eventually shift into the production of electric vehicles (EV). ..
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