International Relations

In the quest to fulfil its statutory mandate and be globally competitive, ECSA engages in several international, bilateral, and multilateral relations. These relations are based on, among others, promoting global professional mobility in engineering educational qualifications and professional competence.

ECSA’s participation in these engagements is derived from Section 13(e) of the Engineering Profession Act, 2000 (Act No. 46 of 2000), which states that “ECSA may establish mechanisms for registered persons to gain recognition of their qualifications and professional status in other countries”. These assist ECSA to develop and maintain authoritative, independent international standards for engineering education and competence and promote the wider recognition of ECSA Registered Persons. ECSA’s membership in different international organisations translates to ECSA’s accredited qualifications being recognised globally. Which results in ECSA’s accredited engineering qualification being globally competitive.

These participations are informed by South Africa’s foreign policy and the country’s domestic imperatives, as captured and amplified in various government policy documents, legislatures, and acts, such as the White Paper on South Africa’s Foreign Policy, the National Development Plan, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, and the DPWI International Relation Strategy, to name a few. This is done closely, working with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) as the custodian and principal advisor on South Africa’s foreign policy matters.

ECSA's International Stakeholders

ECSA has, over the years, established relations with several strategic partners at an international level through bilateral and multilateral bodies in a jurisdictional representative capacity representing South Africa. The figure below provides a summary of the multilateral organisations affiliated with ECSA.

Documents / Link Resources