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In June three staff members of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Dr  George Ochieng, Jacques Snyman and Prof Ben van Wyk, visited the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) to explore areas of collaboration in solid waste management, water and wastewater treatment, river basin management, energy from waste, signal processing and control.
This followed a visit to UFRJ by Professors Adisa Jimoh and Dan Nicolae to COPPE, a Graduate School in Engineering at the UFRJ in March, to finalise an IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) proposal to promote South-South academic collaboration. If approved, this venture will be jointly funded by India, Brazil and South Africa. The focus of this proposal is on alternative and sustainable energy and electric power.
According to the Associate Dean, Prof Ben van Wyk, collaboration with COPPE, Latin America's largest centre for education and research in engineering, has many strategic advantages in store for the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at TUT. Prof Ben van Wyk, Jacques Snyman and Dr George Ochieng |
Brazil has a socio-economic climate that is very similar to that of South Africa, however, the country seems to have found a recipe to ensure the success of their higher education: In 2007 alone, COPPE conferred qualifications on200 doctoral students and 345 master's students and published 1 842 scientific articles on engineering! COPPEemploys342 dedicatedacademics with doctorates.
Although COPPE is the leading engineering research institution in Brazil, there are many similar institutions with equally spectacular outputs in this very beautiful country. |