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.

Engineering Better Drones to Nail Poachers

October 21, 2014 11:58 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

Blast Through Engineering Overload

October 7, 2014 11:56 am
Dear Colleagues, I often think I am like my Labrador dog when it comes to communicating. Inundated by a thousand messages – most of which are absolutely unintelligible to me (apart from a good sniff of meaty food). As you are told repeatedly, we are bombarded with messages every day....Read More

How to Really Make your Learning Stick or Why Most Current Learning Fails

September 30, 2014 11:55 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

How to Get Your Engineering Recruitment Firing on All Cylinders

September 23, 2014 11:32 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

Protect your engineering IP and Copyright – it is surprisingly valuable property

September 16, 2014 11:31 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

When You are Annoyed or Under Pressure - Communicate with Panache

September 9, 2014 11:30 am
Dear Colleagues, We all get annoyed on occasion. One would think that working in an engineering environment means that everyone is super rational, objective and left brain-oriented. However irritations are quite normal and people can get quite emotional – as you have no doubt experienced. Dog Fights are Normal Disagreements...Read More

Satellites Blown Away by Solar Power

September 2, 2014 11:29 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

Can You Download Your Engineering Brain?

August 26, 2014 11:28 am
Dear Colleagues, Various neuroscientists are proposing that the internet and computers are rapidly destroying our brains. Smartphones, video games and social networks provide a poor reproduction of reality and are corrupting our lives (and brains). But there is not too much convincing evidence (as yet) to justify these concerns. Your...Read More

Detecting Heat from your Phone

August 19, 2014 11:27 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

You should try 3-d printing – we did after some pain

August 12, 2014 11:26 am
Dear Colleagues, As you well know – everyone is jumping onto the 3-d printing bandwagon. We purchased one in kit form a month or so ago. My two colleagues, Steve Steyn and Kim Li specified and assembled the printer together after some pain. As we have discussed in earlier blogs,...Read More

Nuts and Bolts to Working with Real Tools

July 29, 2014 11:24 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

The Internet of Things (IoT) is Spreading and Growing

July 15, 2014 11:23 am
Dear Colleagues, Objects around you are increasingly being embedded with a myriad of sensors and actuators – from your road way, body to your industrial process. Data from these sensors is then being transmitted over the Internet using the familiar TCP/IP protocols. Kevin Ashton (from Proctor & Gamble) used the...Read More

Avoid These Management and Leadership Myths

July 8, 2014 11:22 am
Dear Colleagues, You’re probably tired of being subjected to regular doses of management and leadership advice. There are a ferocious number of coaches and theories out ‘there’ advising you on how to be a better manager or leader. Probably more than - bringing up your kids, improving your love life...Read More

Build a Strong Engineering Team

July 1, 2014 11:21 am
Dear Colleagues, You’ve just won a great contract but have to work in a team. And no matter how outgoing and extroverted you are as an engineer, you don’t necessarily have good team interaction skills. Engineering projects are increasingly complex and need a team to succeed. Especially today. Often, teams...Read More

Make Dynamite Engineering Presentations

June 24, 2014 11:19 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

How to Influence Other Engineering Professionals (and Make Friends)

June 10, 2014 11:17 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 Appears to be An Engineering Problem May Require Another Fix

June 3, 2014 11:16 am
Dear Colleagues, Statistically, when considering airplane accidents, engineering causes are very low on the list. I know this is poor comfort when you are bouncing around on a difficult landing or with severe turbulence, but the causes of airplane accidents are: flight crew (66%); aircraft (7%), maintenance (6%), environmental (4%),...Read More

Engineering Isn’t about Inventing but Constant Improving

May 27, 2014 11:15 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

More Inspections or Fewer Inspections? But Both Result in More Errors

May 20, 2014 11:14 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

Engineering Equilibrium is a Dynamic – NOT - Static State

May 13, 2014 11:13 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 Equilibrium is a Dynamic – NOT - Static State

May 13, 2014 11:13 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

The Engineering KISS Principle is Alive and Well with Roundabouts

May 6, 2014 11:13 am
Dear Colleagues Conventional traffic intersections with traffic lights (or stop lights) are mainly used in the USA; whereas roundabouts (or traffic circles) are favoured in Europe and indeed, Australia. What baffles me is that roundabouts are clearly simpler, safer and far better and yet traffic light-based ones are still the...Read More

What Makes You a Great Engineering Designer

April 29, 2014 11:12 am
Dear Colleagues, We all do design engineering at some time or other. Whether you are an electrician undertaking a rework of the wiring for a switchboard or designing a state-of-the-art oil refinery. Who is a designer today? In the twenty first century, perhaps someone who wears bright clothes, speaks French,...Read More

You shouldn’t always aim for 100% Reliability

April 22, 2014 11:11 am
Dear Colleagues, As you all know – reliability is a highly sought after (especially in engineering) measure of how long a product or system functions correctly. The ultimate goal is always a reliability of 1 or 100% reliability with no failure over the life of the product. Reliability of 0...Read More

Soldiers Shouldn’t March across a Bridge

April 15, 2014 11:10 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

When Protecting Critical Contents, Soft Materials Can Exacerbate the Problem

April 8, 2014 11:09 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

Engineer Safety Factors Everywhere Into your Work

April 1, 2014 11:08 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

Engineer within the Natural Order of Things

March 25, 2014 11:08 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

Avoid Giving a Part More than One Function

March 18, 2014 11:07 am
Dear Colleagues, Most of us being clever (or believing we are clever); try and get components or parts in a design or installation to have more than one function or purpose. This is to minimise materials used and the time or energy consumed by other manufacturer and user. Be Wary...Read More

Expediting an Engineering Job Can Cost You Significantly

March 11, 2014 11:06 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