Helping to avert a civil engineering skills crisis, the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) and corporate partners, like design technology company, Autodesk, are paving the way for talented South African learners to access tertiary education.

Exclusion of these students from tertiary institutions - based on their lack of financial resources - is fuelling the country's skills shortage and could jeopardise the implementation of major infrastructural development projects.

At risk are projects such as the Gautrain and other infrastructure projects, particularly those linked to the 2010 World Cup.

A recent Human Sciences Research Council statement cautions that unless ways are found to improve skills development programmes, implementation of large-scale projects may have to rely on foreign skills.

Statistics indicate that over the past decade the greatest mobility of professionals has been among those in education, followed by engineers and architects.

While at home, talented future professionals are being shut out of the profession because they do not have the financial means to fund their tertiary education.

The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) is determined to help these learners with its SAICE Patrons' Engineering Bursary Scheme (SPEBS).

It provides assistance to financially disadvantaged and academically deserving learners studying towards a national diploma or a degree in civil engineering at a South African tertiary institution.

Autodesk has supported SPEBS for several years and recently confirmed its ongoing support for the programme with a R10 000 grant for 2004.

Since the inception of SPEBS in 1992, a total of 121 civil engineering students have received bursaries. Bursaries are awarded to national diploma students once they have passed their first semester (S1) examinations, and to degree students once they have completed their first year of study.

Bursaries are granted per semester and are dependent on successful examination results. The programme is an integral part of SAICE's outreach programmes and all applicants - regardless of gender or race - are considered.

For more information contact Helen van der Schyff, Autodesk, 011 805 1555, www.autodesk.co.za