While juggling his studies, work and maintain his family in Rwanda, a married father of two will be receiving his Master’s in Business Administration in Entrepreneurship with cum laude during this Summer Graduation.

“I arrived in South Africa in 2005 as a refugee, it was difficult for me to communicate in English since I am French speaker,” says Simon Nsengimana.

Simone registered for an English course at the Hatfield Assembles of God Church, which was a three-months Basic English course offered to the refugees free of charge.

The knowledge gained from the course assisted in improving his vocabulary and then Simon managed to secure a job as a security officer.

“When I came to South Africa, my ambition was to continue with my studies and pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing.”

However, he later enrolled at CPUT as a full-time diploma student in Management and Entrepreneurship Department.

He chuckles at one of his bosses’ disbelief upon seeing study books in Simon’s office. “When I told him that they were mine, he laughed at me and asked: “Can you study?” I said yes, but he never believed me.

“With the knowledge, I got in an Entrepreneurship course, I spotted an opportunity in taxis industry which I joined during the time of World soccer cup.”

While in the taxi business, Simon enrolled for a Masters’ degree in Business Administration in Entrepreneurship. “I continued working hard in school and take my studies seriously. I made sure I attend classes, conferences and meetings as scheduled. I also use every opportunity to learn, I use my teachers a lot and search information from various materials.”

He also lost his father-in-law while he was in the middle of his BTech degree examination and his father in the last month of handing in his Masters’ thesis.

He intends to enrol towards a doctoral degree soon.

For the latest highlights from #CPUTsummerGrad2017 visit the CPUT Facebook Page

Written by Kwanele Butana
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Graduates of the Faculty of Applied Sciences rose the roof this morning as they cheered on a classmate who had achieved one of the highest honours the University can bestow on its students.

Dean Berry, who graduated cum laude with a BTech degree in Horticulture, is also the recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Medal. This medal is awarded to the top Btech student across all 6 Faculties. Berry achieved six out of six distinctions in his final year of study with an aggregate of 85%.

Four MTech degrees were also awarded to Nina Septoe, Andre Lambrechts, Jade North and Natalie Newman. These candidates’ graduated with their Masters Degrees from the Departments of Consumer Science: Food and Nutrition, Environmental Health, Horticulture and Nature Conservation, respectively, while Adegbenro Peter Daso and Janes Doughari Hamuel were awarded Doctoral degrees in the Environmental Health Department.

Guest speaker Dr Gansen Pillay, the Deputy CEO of the National Research Foundation of South Africa spoke passionately of the quality of research being done in South Africa.

He says that in moving from a resource-based to a knowledge-based economy, South Africa offered a wealth of opportunity for bright young graduates to exploit.

“We have to focus and prioritise education in South Africa. I advocate the concept of liberation through education – it’s the one thing that can never be taken from you. And at the centre of everything, excellence and integrity needs to be non-negotiable. “

Graduation continues this evening on the Bellville campus where the Faculty of Engineering holds its second ceremony. On Saturday, the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences holds the final two ceremonies on Cape Town campus that bring a week of Autumn graduation to a close.

By Jan Weintrob

Photograph by Clive Galant

Written by CPUT News
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It is spectacular that Nerene Colbie is finishing her CPUT chapter today with two qualifications as well as completing her radiation therapy on Friday, 13 December.

Nerene was due to complete her BTech degree in Biomedical Technology in 2017. She also started a new job in 2018 and decided that her career path would greatly benefit from the BTech degree in Quality. With the support of her employer, Nerene then registered for the BTech degree in Quality (Part-Time). But her studies took a back seat because of work.

At the beginning of this year, due to both qualifications (BTech: Quality and BTech: Biomedical Technology) being discontinued she was allowed to register for both. “It was quite a ride being employed full time and then having to rush off to class in the evenings,” she says.

To add to this pressure, in April this year, the hardworking part-time student was diagnosed with breast cancer. “After initial shock, I mean how could it be me? I am after all still so young.

“I decided to treat this experience as if I just have a bout of flu so whenever someone heard about my diagnosis or even attempted to raise some kind of alarm or feel a bit of pity I would say to them, ‘Ag man, it’s just like a little bit of flu. I just need some meds and I be fine’.”

Nerene started chemotherapy in May, and immediately thereafter, her hair fell off and her feet started burning and feeling itchy. Her classmates and the lecturers as well as colleagues would see her regularly walking around in her socks or with her feet on ice to try to get some relief.

“They [classmates, lecturers and colleagues] have been amazing in terms of support,” she recalls. “No one even batted an eyelid when they saw me walk with my shoes in my hand, and I really appreciated the sense of normalcy they provided me with.”

Nerene had surgery in September and spent the month of October in full recovery and study mode. When she was too tired to attend classes her lecturers understood and she is very grateful to Mr Michael Saayman, Mrs Des Jaftha and many more for supporting her and “Just putting up with my truant ways”.

She is super excited and grateful to God for carrying her through her academic journey to graduation. “It’s been a very challenging long road, especially, that I had to go to hospital all the time and still attend the classes and being employed at the same time. It was very tough.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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