South Africa is facing a significant engineering skills shortage, with an estimated need for an additional 60,000 engineers to support infrastructure development, industrial growth, and innovation. The country cannot afford to overlook half of its potential engineering talent, particularly women, who remain underrepresented in the profession. Women currently account for only around 16% of registered engineering professionals in South Africa.
The conversation around gender parity in engineering should move beyond access alone and focus on what enables women to complete demanding qualifications and build long-term careers in the profession. Initiatives to encourage more girls to study mathematics and science, provide bursaries, and inspire young women to pursue engineering careers have opened important doors, but more needs to be done. Access to higher education is only the beginning of the journey, and the more important question is what happens once students arrive on campus.
Engineering remains one of South Africa's most demanding university qualifications, with many students requiring extended curricula, turning four-year degrees into five-year programmes to ensure academic success. These pathways improve completion rates but also increase the financial investment required from both bursary providers and students. Funding tuition alone is rarely enough to ensure success, and student success depends on a combination of financial assistance, academic readiness, mentoring, and psychosocial support.
The Ikusasa Student Financial Aid Programme (ISFAP) has seen that student success depends on a combination of financial assistance, academic readiness, mentoring, and psychosocial support. These interventions are particularly important in demanding disciplines such as engineering, where the academic workload, pace, and pressure can be significant. Supporting students through these challenges is not simply about improving individual outcomes but also about protecting South Africa's investment in scarce skills.
While women are increasingly participating in STEM education, they remain underrepresented within the profession itself. The Department of Higher Education and Training data suggest that participation in engineering studies has become more balanced over time, yet women still comprise only a small proportion of registered engineering professionals. This suggests that expanding access alone will not close the gender gap, and greater attention must also be paid to supporting students throughout their educational journey and into the profession.
Career guidance forms an important part of the journey, and many learners choose engineering because of its reputation as a respected and secure profession, without fully understanding the academic demands of the qualification or whether it aligns with their strengths and interests. Better diagnostic assessments and career guidance at school level could help learners make more informed choices before enrolling in costly and demanding STEM programmes. This is not about limiting opportunity but rather improving the likelihood that students enter programmes where they are most likely to thrive.
Closing the gender gap in engineering will require collaboration across the education ecosystem, with schools, universities, funders, employers, and professional bodies all having a role to play in strengthening the pipeline from classroom to career. Scholarships remain an essential starting point, but if South Africa is serious about building a more inclusive engineering profession while addressing its scarce-skills shortage, it must invest in the full student journey.
Key points
- South Africa needs an additional 60,000 engineers to support infrastructure development, industrial growth, and innovation.
- Women currently account for only around 16% of registered engineering professionals in South Africa.
- Supporting women through education is key to addressing the engineering skills shortage in South Africa.
