The University of Nottingham held the first-ever International Engineering Competition for Schools in Ghana on Saturday 11 March 2023.
Hosted by the Ghana International School, the competition brought together eight schools for a practical bridge-building challenge. Ahead of the in-person challenge in Accra, the competing schools attended two webinars delivered by Dr Luis Neves, Associate Professor and International Civil Engineering expert on structures and bridges.
With the theory in mind and limitations on materials to be used (plywood, wood strips, glue, thread) the teams set about designing a model bridge to cross a 50cm gap. Once the time was up, tension was (quite literally) high in the room as the bridges were put to the test. Each bridge was also weighed to see how much material had been used in order to instil a sense of sustainability, something the University of Nottingham addresses in every Engineering degree it delivers.
The entries were judged based on a mix of criteria which included the ratio of the weight the bridge could carry to the weight of the bridge itself, the application of theory shared during the webinars, teamwork, aesthetics and innovation.
The winning entries, which received Booknook.store vouchers for their schools, were as follows:
1st place – Dayspring International Academy
2nd place – Aburi Girls School
3rd place – Association International School
In announcing the winner, Dr Mohamed Elmaghrbi, who is the Director of Student Recruitment for Faculty of Engineering, and a Civil Engineering Alumnus of the University of Nottingham, commended the longitudinal truss design which enabled the Dayspring team’s bridge to withstand the greatest weight and also have the highest weight to materials ratio.
Outreach manager for the Faculty of Engineering, Lindsay Smith, commented, “We were very impressed with the level of determination, teamwork and creative skills from all the teams who participated.”
The competition organised by the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham aims to broaden young people’s understanding of STEM subjects and inspire the next generation of engineers. Eleven engineering students from Ashesi University joined the event as volunteers and shared their study experiences whilst working with the different teams.
The students also heard from Shadrach Nartey, Principal Engineer with the Department of Urban Roads, and former Commonwealth scholar at the University of Nottingham. He spoke of his day-to-day responsibilities as a civil engineer and encouraged those present to consider engineering in the future.
The schools which took part were Aburi Girls School, Association International School, Dayspring International Academy, Delhi Public School, Ghana International School, International Community School (Accra & Kumasi), SOS Hermann-Gmeiner International College, Tema International School.
The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham is proud to have five departments all in the global top 100 according to the QS 2023 subject rankings (Architecture and Built Environment, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing), further information on courses and research activity can be viewed online www.nottingham.ac.uk/engineering.
Information for prospective students from Ghana is available www.nottingham.ac.uk/go/ghana