She says that this initiative, which is planned to take place in 2010, is part of an overall drive to improve the department's outputs.
"The University of Pretoria Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering is the only integrated, standalone metallurgical department in the country, and it conducts among the best training and research in South Africa. I want to help raise the bar by creating this welding centre of excellence, and other centres of excellence within the department by attracting funding from industry," says Du Toit.
She adds that the department has never favoured fundamental research, which cannot easily be applied in real situations.
"The department is practical in this regard and its research is almost always designed around real and current issues facing industry. The proposals usually come from industry and by choosing the topics carefully the department is able to ensure that, while practical in nature, it is still good, solid academic research," explains Du Toit.
This practical approach is the underlying philosophy with respect to the development of the welding centre of excellence. Du Toit says that part of the welding initiative will be to grow the research component where the department has been relatively strong for the past 15 years. However, she says, the main focus will probably be on training welding engineers.
The intention of the department is to become a Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW) approved training body, enabling it to offer the International Institute of Welding courses to train international welding engineers according to the highest international standards.
"Once the department has all this in place it will market aggressively. It is common knowledge that South Africa does not produce nearly enough welding engineers and the department hopes to play a significant role in reversing this situation," says Du Toit.
SAIW executive director Jim Guild says that he is pleased with Du Toit's plans. He says he hopes he proposal is successful, and any initiative that helps to produce welding engineers is more than welcome.
Du Toit says it is important to understand that the welding initiative is part of an overall initiative to make the department a centre of excellence in the widest sense.
"Welding is, of course, an important part of the University of Pretoria's physical metallurgy programme, but the department also has its extractive metallurgy and pyrometallurgy programmes, which offer many opportunities for industry," adds Du Toit.
The department offers an Engineering Council of South Africa-accredited, internationally recognised, fully integrated, undergraduate degree. Its postgraduate programme is an extremely popular one and it has almost as many postgraduate students as undergraduate students. The postgraduate programme focuses on course work, where, for example, Bachelor of Engineering Honours and Bachelor of Science Honours students can specialise in a range of varying elements offered by the courses. These courses are also offered in the form of refresher programmes for industry.
"We are in a unique position in South Africa as far as metallurgical sciences are concerned. The country's extensive mining industry, and the fact that South Africa is experiencing significant growth in the steel construction industry are two important factors that can ensure the relevance of the department in terms of the practical training and knowledge that it can offer. I hope to take full advantage of the situation," concludes Du Toit.
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