Home Student & Career Tips Types of Top Engineering Courses in Zambia – 2020

Types of Top Engineering Courses in Zambia – 2020

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This article contains the types of top engineering courses in Zambia for 2020. Do you have so much passion for engineering but don’t really know much about the various disciplines or courses under it, then, this is the right article for you.

Types of Top Engineering Courses in Zambia - 2020

The fact that you are here might mean you are considering an engineering degree in one of the most popular south-central Africa- Zambia. If my guess is right, then you are in the right place. Engineering is the application of science and math to solve problems. Engineers figure out how things work and find practical uses for scientific discoveries. Scientists and inventors often get the credit for innovations that advance the human condition, but it is engineers who are instrumental in making those innovations available to the world. Engineering Education (EE) in Zambia, as in many developing countries around the globe, is considered as one of the principal key drivers to development. Engineering education in Zambia dates as far back as 1969 when the first and still the biggest School of Engineering (SoE) was established at the University of Zambia (UNZA).

A Bachelor of Engineering degree of the University of Zambia is awarded upon successful completion of a five-year programme of study. Students are admitted to the School of Engineering on a competitive basis.

Students do their first year in the School of Natural Sciences where they undertake ‘A’ level courses in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. Currently, the yearly admission into the second year is between 90 to 100 which represents about 65 per cent of those students who select engineering as their first choice. They enter the School of Engineering in the second year where they start the Civil Engineering programme in the second semester of the same year. Each academic year has two semesters. Upon successful completion of the five-year programme, candidates are awarded the Bachelor of Engineering degree.

Available Engineering Courses in Zambia

1.  Agricultural Engineering

This is the branch of engineering involved with the design of farm machinery, with soil management, land development, and mechanization and automation of livestock farming, and with the efficient planting, harvesting, storage, and processing of farm commodities.

Manufacture of agricultural machinery in Zambia is very limited with most of the agricultural implements being imported from outside the country. These implements benefit only a few large commercial farmers leaving the bulk of the small scale farmers struggling with whatever tools they can lay their hands on. Secondly, the lifetime of the imported machinery is limited due to the inadequacies of installation and maintenance knowledge of agriculture machinery. To cover for this shortfall there is a need for agricultural engineering students to learn how to design, agricultural equipment for the local environment, install new equipment and be able to maintain agricultural equipment.

Lastly, students have to learn how to solve open-ended problems as opposed to the closed-end problems that they are exposed to in other courses thereby introducing them to the problems they are going to encounter in their engineering practice. Agricultural Machinery design is the course that exposes students to the application of engineering techniques to solving problems in the agricultural production setting. The engineer is expected to quantify the customers’ desire to the product design specification and come up with a solution to satisfy the client. Also, engineers are expected to be able to design and manufacture custom made agricultural machinery for able to specific problems to the Engineers are expected to install, maintain, and design agricultural machinery. In the Zambian

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2. Civil and Environmental Engineering

The civil engineering profession is concerned with the built environment. Civil engineers plan, design, and construct major facilities, including highways, transit systems, airports, dams, water and wastewater treatment systems, tunnels, energy facilities, harbours, canals, buildings, and bridges. Civil engineers manage our air, water, and energy resources and protect society from natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes, and the hazards society itself generates in the form of toxic wastes. Environmental engineers help solve problems of air, land and water contamination. They design, construct and operate systems that purify water for drinking, industrial use and recreation. They develop and implement air-purification devices and protocols for solid and hazardous waste management

3. Electrical and Electronic

Electrical and electronics engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the practical applications of electricity in all its forms, including those of the field of electronics. Electronics engineering is that branch of electrical engineering concerned with the uses of the electromagnetic spectrum and with the application of such electronic devices as integrated circuits and transistors.

4. Geomatic Engineering

Geomatic engineering is the surveying of the entire or a part of the earth with various techniques (satellites positioning, satellite images processing, etc.) and the resulting spatial data is evaluated and expressed in maps and plans in the computer environment; It is also an engineering department that deals with all kinds of position-dependent measurement, calculation, analysis and visualization studies. Geomatic Engineering is one of the best engineering branches that are open to technological developments and best practice contemporary technology

5. Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems. It is one of the oldest and broadest of the engineering branches.

The mechanical engineering field requires an understanding of core areas including mechanics, dynamics, thermodynamics, materials science, structural analysis, and electricity. In addition to these core principles, mechanical engineers use tools such as computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and product lifecycle management to design and analyze manufacturing plants, industrial equipment and machinery, heating and cooling systems, transport systems, aircraft, watercraft, robotics, medical devices, weapons, and others. It is the branch of engineering that involves the design, production, and operation of machinery.

6. Survey Engineering

Today, Surveying Engineers play a vital role in developing societies. Their primary role is to determine the position of natural and man-made objects on the earth’s surface, and record it for future planning purposes; to set and reset boundaries both within the country and internationally. Surveying is the general term, which covers a myriad of disciplines, such as Geodesy, Photogrammetry, Cartography, GIS, Digital Mapping, Cadastral Surveying, etc.

Surveying Engineers or Surveyors collect, analyze, and manage the global spatial infrastructure. They design, develop, and operate systems for collecting and analyzing spatial information about the land, the oceans, natural resources, and man-made features. They use sophisticated equipment such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), electronic theodolites, levels, aerial photographs, satellite imagery for gathering, analyzing, and using information about the earth. Modern Surveying topics include digital mapping, geodesy, photogrammetry, remote sensing, as well as more traditional surveying involving property surveys. Since our societies are becoming more complex, information with a spatial position associated with it are of vital importance and are critical to decision-making, both from a personal and a business perspective and for different levels of government.

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7. Mining, Metallurgy and Mineral Processing

In 1973, the University of Zambia established the School of Mines to offer Mining, Metallurgy and Mineral Processing Engineering. Furthermore, this saw the initiation of the Chemical Engineering program by the year 2000 at Copperbelt University.

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposit. These deposits form a mineralized package that is of economic interest to the miner.

Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain any material that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behaviour of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the science and the technology of metals. That is, the way in which science is applied to the production of metals, and the engineering of metal components used in products for both consumers and manufacturers. . A specialist practitioner of metallurgy is known as a Metallurgist.

Mineral processing is the art of treating crude ores and mineral products in order to separate the valuable minerals from the waste rock or gangue. It is the first process that most ores undergo after mining in order to provide a more concentrated material for the procedures of extractive metallurgy. The primary operations are comminution and concentration, but there are other important operations in a modern mineral processing plant, including sampling and analysis and dewatering

8. Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering is a branch of engineering that uses principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, and economics to efficiently use, produce, design, transport and transform energy and materials. The work of chemical engineers can range from the utilization of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in the laboratory to large-scale industrial processes that convert chemicals, raw materials, living cells, microorganisms, and energy into useful forms and products.

Chemical engineers are involved in many aspects of plant design and operation, including safety and hazard assessments, process design and analysis, modelling, control engineering, chemical reaction engineering, nuclear engineering, biological engineering, construction specification, and operating instructions.

Post Graduate Engineering Courses in Zambia

Later, the School of Technology (SOT) also introduced post-graduate programs to include (University of Zambia, 2015):

  1. Master of Engineering in Power Electrical Engineering (Taught or by Research)
  2. Master of Engineering in Agricultural Engineering (Taught).
  3. Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering (by Research)
  4. Master of Engineering in Geodesy and Surveying (by Research)
  5. Master of Engineering in Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing (by Research)
  6. Master of Engineering in Production Engineering and Management (Taught or by Research)
  7. Master of Engineering in Renewable Energy Engineering (Taught)
  8. Master of Engineering in Structural Engineering (Taught or by Research)
  9. Master of Engineering in Thermo Fluids Engineering (Taught or by Research)
  10. Master of Engineering in Water Resources Management and Water Resources Engineering (by research)
  11. Doctor of Philosophy
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The School of Technology (SOT) at the Copperbelt University (CBU) was the second-largest engineering school to be established in 1989 from the then Zambia Institute of Technology (ZIT). The school started offering the following B. Engineering programs in 1996 which include:

  1. Electrical/Electronic Engineering
  2. Chemical Engineering
  3. Computer Science
  4. Mining Engineering
  5. Metallurgy and Mineral Engineering

Eight (8) Civil Engineering programs were offered in the School of Built Environment (SBE). In 2010, SOT was split into the School of Engineering and the School of Mines and Mineral Sciences (SMMS). The programs that are currently offered by these two schools include:

Diploma Programs

  1. Diploma in Telecommunications
  2. Diploma in Electrical Engineering
  3. Diploma in Civil Engineering Technology
  4. Diploma in Environmental Technology
  5. Diploma in Chemical Technology
  6. Diploma in Mine Ventilation
  7. Diploma in Mining Engineering
  8. Diploma in Mine Survey
  9. Diploma in Metallurgy
  10. Diploma in Small Scale Mining
  11. Diploma in Geomatics Engineering

Undergraduate Programs

  1. Aeronautical Engineering (Hons)
  2. Civil Engineering with Construction Management (Hons)
  3. Civil Engineering (Hons)
  4. Mechanical Engineering (Hons)
  5. Mechatronics Engineering (Hons)
  6. Telecommunication & Electronics Engineering (Hons)
  7. Electrical/Electronics (Power)
  8. Electrical/Mechanical Engineering
  9. Environment Engineering
  10. Chemical Engineering
  11. Mining Engineering
  12. Metallurgical & Mineral Processing Engineering
  13. Mining & Exploration Geology
  14. Geomatics Engineering

Postgraduate Degree Programs

  1. Integrated Masters of Engineering Degree with Honours – in one of the eight (8) pathways, namely M. Eng. (Hons) in:
    1. Aeronautical engineering
    2. Automotive Engineering
    3. Mechanical Engineering
    4.  Mechatronics Engineering
    5. Electrical/Electronic Engineering
    6. Communication, Network & Signal Processing Engineering
    7. International Construction Management & Engineering
    8. Masters of Science Degree
    9. Masters of Philosophy Degrees
    10. Doctor of Philosophy Degrees

The Schools of Engineering at the UNZA and CBU produce the majority of engineering graduates employed in Zambia. The purpose of the School of Engineering is embedded in the purposes of the University of Zambia, which are to:

  • Fulfil the historical purpose of a university through the pursuit of teaching, research and scholarship
  • Advance national development through the application of learning and research;
  • Promote learning by offering opportunities for advanced education to all suitably qualified persons without distinction of race, gender or political affiliation; and enhance Zambia’s potential to promote the goals of the wider African and international communities.”

The curriculum of the School of Engineering in Zambia

The School of Engineering reviews its curriculum every five or so years. The last review started in 2006 and was completed in 2013 when the University Senate approved the proposals. During the process of reviewing the curriculum, the School undertakes extensive surveys and consultations with major stakeholders such as government, industry, donors and other institutions of higher learning in the region. During the migration from Semester to Term system, some courses were reconstituted. The second-year specialisation courses have been moved to the third year, and specialisation will now start in the third year, and the second year has been dedicated to general Engineering courses. Due to the shuffling of the courses, the third-year programme contains more courses than the usual number to accommodate the specialisation courses which were introduced in the second year. Mindful of the importance of practical training, the curriculum includes a compulsory period of fourteen weeks of industrial training. Thus, the last two long vacations before graduation are spent in the industry and the work is assessed in conjunction with supervisors in the industry. By this scheme, the student observes the practical application of the principles taught in the classroom, experiences some of the responsibility given to engineers and learns engineering techniques.

CONCLUSION

To facilitate the growth of engineering education in Zambia and to maintain its national relevance, the School of Engineering has developed a close association with industry and government. Many of the academic staff are members of relevant governmental committees. On a formal basis, the School of Engineering Advisory Board, which draws its external membership from government industry and the professional institutions, meets regularly to discuss matters that are pertinent to the development and smooth operation of the School. So it is safe Zambia is one of the prominent African countries to study engineering.

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