Geotechnical Engineering course units have been said to be the hardest and toughest among the civil engineering curriculum worldwide. They are among the most hated and failed subjects at both undergraduate and postgraduate. No wonder there is scarcity of well trained geotechnical engineers globally. A case in point is where among twelve students offering Advanced Soil Mechanics at a certain university in Uganda, only one was able to slightly obtain the pass mark.
So what is the cause and solution to this trend. Of course various causes have been brought forward for all these years. And mostly of them have been attributed to the students. And the tutors/lecturers have been left out in the search for cause and solution. Yet to me, they hold the highest percentage to the cause and solution. Unless the lecturers take responsibility for the above trend, most likely nothing is about to change in the near future.
And this brings me to the gist of this series (001) of my blog about Geotechnical Engineering in Uganda. In 2008, my coursemate, Tom Kisubi meets a lecturer who had just returned from the United Kingdom after his PhD studies. Tom was my coursemate at undergraduate studies offering BSc. in Civil Engineering at Makerere University. Actually am also a graduate of MSc. Engineering (Geotechnical Specialization) from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. And Tom Kisubi turned out to be my bestman at our wedding with my wife Adrine Atwijukire.
Back to the other lecturer Tom met. He was looking for a student(s) to mentor along the way with the intention of supervising them for Final Year Projects. My friend Tom could not dare be part of the known trend about geotechnical engineering. Therefore, he contacted and connected me to this lecturer, knowing that I had performed very well in the previous geotechnical engineering course units. We met with the lecturer and have had a great cordial relationship since then. This lecturer is none other than Dr. Denis Kalumba now a Professor at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Dr. Kalumba went ahead to teach us Foundation Engineering course unit. Because of the way he handled the course unit in terms of teaching, very many students changed their mindset towards Geotechnical Engineering. A number of students passed the course unit and went ahead to carry out their research in the same field.
In May 2010, I completed my undergraduate studies and straight away joined the academic field. In more than ten years, I have now worked with Prof. Kalumba, I have seen him mentoring many students into the field of Geotechnical Engineering both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It is his attitude towards the course units and the way he teaches. A great number of Geotechnical Engineers in Uganda of my generation were inspired by him. Even those I have inspired it is because he inspired me.
Prof. Kalumba has been my mentor since 2008/2009. I have always looked up to him in the field of Geotechnical Engineering. On my wedding day, he flew the whole family into Uganda just that they could be in attendance. What a mentor!
Prof. Kalumba is the recipient of the South African Geotechnical Gold Medal award for 2021, in recognition of his contribution to geotechnical engineering in South Africa. The first black African recipient of the award since 1989. You can read more about the award from here: https://www.geotechnicaldivision.co.za/awards/the-south-african-geotechnical-medal/
The family of Prof. Denis Kalumba
In summary, it is we the teachers of Geotechnical Engineering that will change the negative perspective and trend.
Very interesting and typical assets.
Well said.
Thanks
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