CAR magazine and General Motors South Africa are offering engineering students the opportunity of a lifetime – a career as an automotive engineer.
The CAR Engineering Challenge 2012, sponsored by Isuzu, will see the successful candidate receive on-the-job experience as part of General Motors’ (GM) Graduate-in-Training Programme, with the possibility of full-time employment on completion.
Open to final-year students in the fields of mechanical, electrical, industrial and mechatronics engineering, the competition invites entrants to submit a one-page abstract of their automotive or production-related project or thesis. The top three contestants will present their projects to a panel of judges, which will determine the winner based on the project’s innovation, technical excellence and relevance to the local automotive sector.
“It’s extremely difficult for engineering students to break into this field – opportunities in South Africa are limited,” explained CAR’s technical editor, Nicol Louw. “We have long wanted to get involved at university level to encourage prospective automotive engineers and to give them a platform to get into the industry. The Challenge allows us to do that.”
The winner will join GM’s programme in Port Elizabeth from March to December 2013, receive a salary and possibly relocation assistance. The 10-month contract will include mentoring, rotational training and access to study materials from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Business School.
Application forms for the CAR Engineering Challenge are available on www.carmag.co.za. Entry closes on 16 November. The finalists will be chosen by mid-December and the winner announced at an awards function in January 2013.