Dr Estime Mukandila was one of the recipients of a Doctoral degree at the University of Pretoria’s spring graduation ceremony held on 1 September 2016. His journey towards the completion of this degree was a rather interesting challenge.

Dr Mukandila completed his BEng in Mining at the University of Lubumbashi in the DRC where he was also offered a Junior Lecturer position for five years.

In April 2004, Dr Mukandila came to South Africa and was admitted into the Honours programme, Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria. Irrespective of  English being  a foreign language to  Estimé he got an average of 73% for his honours from studying with a dictionary and the assistance he got from his French speaking peers.  Apart from the language barrier Estimés faced, he was also confronted with financial constraints. Estimé acknowledged one of his lecturers, Mr Roodt who assisted him financially with his studies.

Dr Mukandila is humbled by the support he received from his department’s staff members to name but a few; Prof Emile Horak (previous HoD of Civil Engineering), Prof Alex Visser , and Prof Wynand Steyn (PhD Supervisor).  He acknowledges the professional of Dr Terence Milne who was his PhD Co-Supervisor)

He is now a registered Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and currently works as a Principal Engineer at WorleyParsons. This is what Dr Estimé had to say about his success “I am not necessary intelligent, but I must say that perseverance and faith always pays-off.”

The Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology is proud to have contributed to this success story and wishes Dr Mukandila all the best for the future.

Recognition was given by the Beeld and Kyknet to Dr Estimé Mukandila for his hard work and dedication:

http://www.netwerk24.com/Nuus/Algemeen/vlugteling-uit-drk-kry-doktorsgraad-aan-tuks-20160901