Trends and developments of education and training in the South African water sector towards sustainable water usage

摘要

Modern education and training are based on lifelong learning, with special attention on the development of competencies. Apart from gaining knowledge and skills, aptitude and opinions, ethics, perceptions and/or attitudes are also of importance. Students should become intellectually mature, be able to find needed data, decide what is relevant and obtain any knowledge still lacking. Education and training in the water sector professions should reflect the basic requirements of sciences and disciplines to be included in the curricula. A continued growing demand for water related professionals at all levels of education have been identified. The following major questions arise: what type of sciences/professions should be considered to be representative for the broad water-related sector? What type of qualifications will be deemed necessary to cover parts or the whole broad water-related field? What type of new teaching methods/strategies is required to achieve this growing education and training needs? This paper presents the current education and training trends in the South African water sector. As the scope of the water sector is constantly expanding due to globalisation, public awareness and increased importance of social environments and issues, recommendations for future development in the education and training for sustainable water use are addressed.