Dr. Steve Mackay is the founder of the Engineering Institute of Technology. He firmly believes in Nelson Mandela’s mantra that, “Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.” His leadership has inspired EIT’s unique and distinctive approach to engineering education.

Since 2008 three core objectives define the essence of the institute:

Collaborating comprehensively with industry to ensure graduates are job-ready.
Employing platforms of learning to facilitate student accessibility and engagement.
Keeping the business of education student-centric.

Dr. Mackay has enjoyed a varied career in engineering, having worked in automation, data acquisition, instrumentation, data communications, and process control throughout Australia, Europe, Africa, and North America over the past 35 years. He has successfully pioneered the application of new technologies in Australia and overseas, installing industrial data communication systems and implementing live online education, (including remote laboratories), for engineering students worldwide. Dr. Mackay has been involved in a range of industries, including power stations, mining, mineral processing, oil/gas/petrochemical plants, and platforms. He has presented courses on industrial data communications, data acquisition, instrumentation, and process control to over 30,000 engineers and technicians worldwide for clients such as NASA, Rolls Royce, and BP. He has also co-authored and edited 25 engineering books that have been published across the world. Dr. Mackay is a Fellow of Engineers Australia with a license to practice as a Chemical, Mechanical, and Electrical Chartered Professional Engineer. As Dean of the Engineering Institute of Technology, Dr. Mackay leads the institute in providing microcredentials and engineering qualifications to over 2000 students per year from 140 countries. He has an unswerving focus on student outcomes and on excellence in education.

Freely available know-how and our Automation and conversions guides

May 22, 2008 9:30 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Collaborate in creating your next engineering product

May 12, 2008 9:29 am
Dear Colleagues According to Wikinomics, many very successful products today are being created by teams of thousands of people scattered throughout the world, using their collective wisdom. ‘No company today, no matter how large or how global, can innovate fast enough or big enough by itself.’ This is according to...Read More

Beat a gadget strewn path to your local geek fair

May 7, 2008 9:15 am
Dear colleagues There is an apparent lack of enthusiasm in our children for building mechanical, electrical and electronic gadgets and this has become one of my pet peeves. Tinkering around with gadgets, I believe, results in the development of a passion for science and engineering from an early age. This...Read More

Grasp the engineering nettle in biology and medicine

April 30, 2008 9:14 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

We all need an engineering mentor (or advisor, teacher, role model, friend)

April 18, 2008 9:35 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Engineering conference papers for you

April 16, 2008 9:12 am
Dear Colleagues In addition to the hundreds of whitepapers (growing daily) on our site freely available to you, we have also placed up a reasonable number of conference papers (from the UK/South Africa and Australia) for you to download (at no charge obviously). These range from Pumps: Maintenance, Design and...Read More

Invisible Engineers and Technicians – Undervalued, disappearing and needing your support

April 10, 2008 9:10 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Engineering Multi-skilling in your part of the universe

April 2, 2008 9:09 am
Dear Colleagues 1. Thanks so much for the flood of suggestions every week - some taking alternative views to mine so they are definitely worth reading. Many include really interesting suggestions which I try to place on the blog site. Please remember that thanks to the conferences we are running we...Read More

Hard won experience makes you master of the engineering universe

March 19, 2008 9:06 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Why is battery technology so slow in growing up?

March 13, 2008 9:05 am
Dear Colleagues 1. First of all - thanks for the further stream of comments/corrections and additions to the engineering safety document. I will acknowledge everyone shortly and we will update this booklet by late next week. 2. As engineers and techies we are required on a daily basis to stretch...Read More

Common Sense with safety isn’t so common around here

February 25, 2008 8:59 am
Dear colleagues As an old engineering colleague of mine, wryly remarked to me recently - engineering and technical graduates are often like babes in the wood when newly on-site as their practical and safety knowledge is almost non-existent. Despite an intensive 4 year (or longer) study program. My retort was...Read More

Power Travails of Africa or Don’t let your local politician walk over you

February 14, 2008 8:58 am
The first few weeks in Jan’08, with rolling power cuts, have been hell for industry and mining in South Africa. There is a feeling that the genie has escaped from the bottle and with it a sense of reality.  And solutions to the recent developments seem elusive. The 2010 World...Read More

Testing engineering systems: But only perfunctorily

January 23, 2008 8:57 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Engineering and the ‘Long Tail’ Distribution

January 16, 2008 8:55 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Welcome to another brilliant year!

January 15, 2008 8:54 am
I trust 2008 is kind to you. A short one today, as I have to cope with the aftermath of two weeks of lying around on the beach with family and reading copious numbers of books and magazines. And now I am catching up here in the office. Despite the...Read More

Can we make engineering safety standards work?

December 12, 2007 8:53 am
Dear Colleagues On my travels in Southern Africa; this morning I witnessed a horrible car accident with a little kid being tossed into the air after running across a road. Later, a good client working for one of the largest companies in the world, commented that a smelter component had...Read More

The myth of bottling your experienced techie’s know-how before they leave

November 28, 2007 8:52 am
Dear colleagues The myth of bottling your experienced techie’s know-how before they leave My engineering peers often shake their heads ruefully when remarking on the wasted results of the last knowledge management exercise they have done. Often costing millions. A complete waste of time, they exclaim. Trying to bottle knowledge...Read More

Are we tilting at windmills with solar and wind energy

November 23, 2007 8:50 am
Dear Colleagues Two items today:  1. Over 300 shareware software programs available Thanks for the superb responses of a few hundred programs to my request for shareware and free software. We are finalising the list and should have it out next week with a free CD or easy-to-download from the...Read More

Why nanotechnology is important to engineers

November 14, 2007 8:48 am
Dear Colleagues Thanks for the inevitably bulging mail bag of responses to my previous newsletters. Some very thoughtful engineers. And as per the suggestions, I am trying to add more engineering oriented musings. Three items today: 1. Amazing collection of free engineering software I am always amazed by the incredible...Read More

Accountants are killjoys and engineers over-engineer

November 7, 2007 8:41 am
Dear Colleagues 1. A response from last week’s blog suggested that I was denigrating women. It was unintentional and I apologise unreservedly. 2. Accountants are killjoys and engineers over-engineer Most accountants are seen as misers and killjoys by engineers. They are seen to spoil the fun we engineers have in...Read More

Don’t despise engineering advice from so-called simpletons

October 31, 2007 8:36 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Don\’t communicate with a battering ram or a twisted whisper, but with engineering panache!

October 30, 2007 8:34 am
Whilst trucking through Toronto this week (and getting sunburnt, despite it being October), I was intrigued by a recent problem between two of our offices due to the lack of proper communication. In this so-called connected world with email and mobile phones, communications between people are perhaps even worse than...Read More

How many of us are guilty of negligent engineering and potential disasters?

October 10, 2007 8:33 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Making up for the problem solving toolbox defect in our formal engineering education

October 3, 2007 8:29 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

One of education’s greatest confidence tricks – lectures

September 26, 2007 8:27 am
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

What on earth do you expect the world to do with your rubbish?

September 19, 2007 8:26 am
Dear Colleague Three things today. 1. Nuclear Power I had an overwhelming response to "Nuclear Power: To hell? Or maybe, just maybe...Heavenly Bliss?" Thanks very much. Some very interesting comments and some rather acid comments about my professed love for nuclear waste and the nuclear apocalypse. To a (wo)man, all...Read More

Nuclear Power: To hell? Or maybe, just maybe…Heavenly Bliss?

September 13, 2007 8:24 am
Dear Colleague Two things today: 1. Thanks so much for your ongoing stream of comments - every week, I typically get over 20 thoughtful and interesting comments from the 80,000 odd engineers and techies throughout the world who receive this note.. Please keep them coming. I really am grateful for...Read More

Trust your guts and not always your engineering brain

August 29, 2007 8:23 am
Dear Colleague Three things today: Engineering training survey. Thanks very much for the incredible response here. Within short order I have had over 1600 completed surveys - I will make the results available to everyone in the next two weeks. Some very interesting and useful comments have emerged - I...Read More

In the Thrall of politicians

August 8, 2007 8:21 am
Dear Colleagues We ran a successful (based on numbers and responses at the end, so I hope I don't sound like a used car salesman here) conference on Hazardous Areas (Classifications and Equipment) this week. Very enjoyable meeting so many of my engineering peers who were so interactive, enthusiastic and...Read More

The (Erratically) Mobile Engineer

July 16, 2007 8:20 am
As I sit in our surfside beach shack contemplating the surfers riding yet another great wave in this stunningly beautiful but remote village in the SW corner of Australia, I've had a good chance to measure up being a mobile (working) engineer for a few days. But as my teenage...Read More

Where have all our engineering leaders gone?

July 2, 2007 8:18 am
Dear Colleagues After a few week’s gap in my musings, for which I apologise, I am firmly back on deck again. We have been developing a new software product for video conferencing which has drained me of every waking moment, and as you know with software products, budgets and time...Read More

How to avoid engineering career killers – 11 Tips

June 12, 2007 8:17 am
Dear colleagues We are closer to the end of the year. Did you achieve what you set out to do on the 1st January 2007? Perhaps you never gave it too much thought with all the day-to-day stuff going on. I am composing this over a few welcome coffees in...Read More

Real time engineering collaboration

April 22, 2007 3:10 pm
Last week, we had to urgently collaborate in writing a short article with two other engineers – all of us on different continents. This was the  most unusual experience in writing and editing an article in real time. Inevitably, I was on the road. The lot of an engineer, eh...Read More

Where on earth has the Electronics (or indeed, plain old) hobbyist gone to?

March 8, 2007 8:16 am
I remember clearly, when I was in my teens, experimenting with crystal radios and being quite excited with the first crackly reception of the local AM radio station. Or connecting my first telephone up between our shed and my bedroom (and spilling battery acid everywhere - much to my mum’s...Read More

Invest in your people before you lose ‘em

February 4, 2007 3:32 pm
Recently I received this note from one of my colleagues. I have deleted company names for this purpose.  “Last week the XYZ company made me a fantastic offer that will provide me with the opportunity to gain tremendous experience and receive a dramatic increase in my salary. I pretty much...Read More

Safety – Different countries/Different standards or not?

January 1, 2007 3:14 pm
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Tethered to your desk and smothered by your work – whilst mobile

December 4, 2006 3:12 pm
I know I am one of the major culprits here. I have an insatiable desire to keep up with everything happening in our engineering business. I am tethered to my mobile phone and email/web to ensure I keep in touch and track disasters and relatively good news alike. These can...Read More

Woz – What an inspirational engineer

October 10, 2006 3:09 pm
Admittedly, Steve Wozniak (‘Woz’ to his buddies) of Apple fame is somewhat of an eclectic engineer and definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. Many engineering professionals would be decidedly twitchy to class Woz as “one of us”. My musings today are on why Woz should be considered inspirational to us...Read More

Why our engineering education system is broken and what to do about it

October 2, 2006 3:07 pm
We employ an eclectic mixture of experienced engineers, graduate engineers and engineering students both on permanent staff and on contract at IDC Technologies. We run  many courses every day throughout the world; so I am privileged to have the opportunity to talk to the experienced old salts and the young...Read More

Excellence in Australian Engineering

September 27, 2006 3:06 pm
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Have we forgotten the most important asset of our businesses ?

September 25, 2006 3:03 pm
Once a team of accountants runs their ruler over your business, you can bet your bottom dollar that first they will be looking at the assets in terms of plant & equipment and stock in the warehouse. Second, they will then look at the intangibles such as software, trademarks and...Read More

Fingertip Engineering Knowledge

September 18, 2006 3:01 pm
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

The Great Move

September 14, 2006 2:59 pm
Well; the great move to our new home up the road was (sort of) completed yesterday. To 1031 Wellington Street. Things had got untenable at our older offices with everyone sitting on top of each other or sharing desks and computers over the day. Hopelessly painful. Thanks to young Miss...Read More

Where have all our engineers and technicians gone ?

September 12, 2006 2:57 pm
It is a well recognized truism that science, engineering and technology are critical to economic growth for a country. So it is vital that we see a continuing flow of good engineers and technicians into industry. In 2001, the British Government commissioned an important study into "the supply of people...Read More

Engineering Innocence

August 31, 2006 2:49 pm
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Fearsomely outstanding Engineering Presentations

August 29, 2006 2:48 pm
The Art of Support: EIT’s Learning Support Officers InformationCategory Education10 September 2020Written by: Quintus Potgieter The Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) is a unique global institute, delivering online engineering short courses, diplomas, and degrees. Students around the world log into EIT’s synchronous online virtual campus to network with other... Read...Read More

Don’t spend another penny on formal training

August 22, 2006 2:47 pm
Stop pouring your money into formal training without pausing to consider the other far more powerful options. The US Bureau of  Labor Statistics (1996), indicated that people learn 70% of what they know about their jobs informally. Not through formal courses. Or training workshops. According to Jay Cross,  formal training...Read More

Be Foolish more often in engineering

August 5, 2006 2:45 pm
As engineers and technical professionals we are all trained to be logical and rational and rely on proven facts in making decisions. The approach with engineers is to vigorously apply the blowtorch to any concept which is rather nebulous  and stick to solid engineering design practise. However as Margot Cairnes,...Read More