Advanced Design Colleges (ADC) – the distributor of Autodesk International software in Zimbabwe is planning to introduce an AutoCAD competition for secondary and tertiary education institutions as a way of motivating students to be innovative.
By Farai Shawn Matiashe recently in Darwendale
ADC is the local distributor and trainer of Autodesk International AutoCAD software in Zimbabwe.
This is the first time that institutions will be challenged to compete for honours in Computer Aided Design.
In the past, the company ran annual quiz competitions for high school students aimed at improving their critical thinking and designing capabilities.
The designing competition is being introduced at a time when calls for a tech-driven economy are growing louder and louder and when Zimbabwe is, like most developing countries, putting mechanisms to promote ICT education in schools.
“This strategy will motivate students to come up with exceptional designs and contribute towards finding solutions to problems faced by our country,” says ADC Project Manager David Ngandu.
Ngandu was addressing delegates at the ADC Programme Coordinators meeting held at the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management (ZIPAM) recently.
The competition also seeks to foster the spirit of teamwork among students involved in designing.
“This competition requires students to collaborate meaning that Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Wood Technology students must work together to produce structures such as high rise buildings, roads networks and bridges. We do not want a situation whereby each field of study design a structure on its own as this does not result in quality designs,” said Ngandu.
Speaking at the same event, Joshua Mqhabuko Nkomo Polytechnic Head of the Engineering Department and ADC Coordinator, Lovemore Mafurirano said the designing competition will challenge students to come up with designs that can solve problems affecting our society.
“We want to move away from theory and challenge our students to design models which can be adapted to revive the economy,” said Mufurirano.
Such kind of competitions will be used to harness ideas on how endemic problems such as poor road networks can be addressed.
“Harare City is highly congested, the city council wanted to decongest it but it failed and the country ended up losing two lives.
“The problem was there, but there was no ideal solution to address it- that is where designing students should come in,” said Mafurirano.
Mafurirano said during the competition students will showcase their models to local government officials and other stakeholders so that if they are interested in any model they can implement it.
ADC has an academic partnership with secondary education and tertiary education institutions that use AutoCAD software in their learning programmes. Currently, it is working with 15 colleges and nine high schools.
