Universities in the Western Cape are exploring how best they can work together on several key projects that will aid development in various areas in the Western Cape.

 This venture is an initiative of the Western Cape Government (WCG) and the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC), a body that represents the four higher education institutions in the province.

CHEC representatives, government officials and academics recently met at the CPUT Bellville Campus to explore Digital Inclusion under the theme of Social Inclusion, which is one of the four areas identified for collaboration.

CEO of CHEC, Nasima Badsha says various workshops will be held with role-players, where they will discuss the WCG’s priorities and establish a framework for joint research that would support development in the identified areas.

Badsha says the other areas that will be explored are climate change and sustainability, the interface between universities and colleges, as well as dialogues that will speak to key issues of the day.

Those who attended the Digital Inclusion Workshop explored its relevance in the areas of education and health, adoption and community level, access and e-Government.

Head of Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the DVC: Research, Technology Innovation and Partnerships, Assoc Prof Shaun Pather, is representing CPUT on the Digital Inclusion Task Team.

Pather says that when looking at projects, stakeholders must do so in the context of research uptake.

Research uptake advocates the process by which the knowledge generated through research makes its way to those who need it.

Written by Candes Keating
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Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

The face of research, innovation and technology at CPUT is set to be revolutionized with the official roll-out of the Research and Technology Innovation (RTI) blueprint.

This ten-year blueprint provides the institution with a strategic frame within which it can seek to produce research and innovation that is relevant to the needs of the province, South Africa and the world.

Speaking at the launch of the RTI, Deputy-Vice Chancellor Research, Technology Innovation and Partnerships, Dr Chris Nhlapo says the RTI outlines programmes and practical intervention strategies for breakthrough improvement in research activities at the institution and includes a number of key objectives.  

Some of the objectives include the establishment of Research Chairs in each faculty, the appointment of senior researchers in niche areas and an increase in postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellowships.

Nhlapo says the blueprint also aims to build on the institution’s strengths through the following seven focus areas: Bio-economy and biotechnology; Space science and technology; Energy; Climate-change and environment; Human and social dynamics; Economic growth and Design for sustainability.

CEO of the Cape Higher Education Consortium, Nasima Badsha commended CPUT for rolling-out the RTI.

“Your blueprint is an important and exciting step in achieving your vision of growing research at CPUT that responds to the needs of the province, the country and beyond,” says Badsha.

The RTI has also received support from CPUT’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga as well as from CPUT Chair of Council, Mbulelo Bikwani.

By Candes Keating

Written by CPUT News
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On 13 June 2008 CPUT will be showing support for the victims of xenophobic attacks by observing a moment of silence at 09:00. Staff and students are encouraged to wear white ribbons as a visible mark of solidarity.

The call for universities to act against xenophobia was made by the Office of the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC). CPUT believes that this is a unique opportunity for the entire CPUT community across all campuses to stand alongside fellow institutions in the Western Cape and to unite in a demonstration of solidarity in support of the victims of xenophobia and the victims of other forms of violence.

Staff from the Marketing and Communication Department and a team of students will provide ribbons and pins to all campuses. The Department thanks the CPUT community for its enthusiasm in participating in this initiative.

Department of Marketing and Communication

Read UCT's call for visible solidarity.

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Dr Chris Nhlapo has been appointed as the new chairperson of the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC).

This academic consortium comprises the four universities in the Western Cape - the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch University.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research, Technology Innovation and Partnerships, Nhlapo takes over the reigns of Prof Crain Soudien, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Transformation at the University Of Cape Town.   

The three-year appointment will see Nhlapo play a key role in strengthening ties between the various institutions.

“We want the four institutions to share their knowledge resources,” he says.

From libraries to research equipment and facilities, Nhlapo says collaboration between the institutions will only benefit the development of the Western Cape.

“The Western Cape is the intellectual hub of South Africa,” says Nhlapo.

“We have to now focus on how to harness this knowledge to the benefit of the Western Cape, as well as to the benefit of the rest of South Africa. This will only be possible if all institutions work together.”

CHEC is the most successful higher education consortium in South Africa and with Nhlapo’s extensive experience in the higher education sector, he will certainly add value to the consortiums activities.

“I’m excited about this role and will contribute to the foundation laid by my predecessors.”

Written by Candes Keating
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Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) Faculty of Education held a most productive face-to-face postgraduate student-focused workshop recently, where CPUT and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) collaboratively dissected the topic for the day: Utilising Phenomenology as a Research Methodology in Education.

The workshop was attended by the seasoned phenomenological researchers, novice academics and postgraduate doctoral students from the three higher educational institutions in South Africa. At the robust postgraduate workshop led by Dr Karen Koopman, Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational Studies at UWC, two CPUT final-year doctoral students, Byron Abrahams and Clive Brown gave insight into their respective studies, which embraces a phenomenological research design.

Abrahams, Mathematics specialist in the Faculty of Education is supervised by Prof Yusuf Sayed and Dr Sharon McAuliffe at CPUT. He states: “In my doctoral study, I am using a Hermeneutic phenomenological research design to explore the role of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in developing teachers’ competence in integrating technology into their practice and to understand better the provision of equitable and quality teaching and learning”.

Brown, Intermediate Phase Teaching Practice Coordinator and GET Advisory Board Secretary, is undertaking doctoral studies at UKZN and being supervised by Prof Sarasvathie Reddy within the School of Education. He states: “My research study proposes to understand a final group of Intermediate Phase student-teachers' lived experiences while completing Teaching Practicum in diverse South African schooling contexts”.

Both academics have collectively and most recently published an article within the African Perspectives of Research in Teaching & Learning (APORTAL) Vol 6 (3) (2022) Special Issue. The articles are titled:

• CPD and The Development of Teacher TPCK For Technology Integration: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study [Abrahams, McAuliffe & Sayed, 2022].
• Critical Reflections On Researching Lived and Learning Experiences: Towards A Critical Phenomenology [Samuel, Reddy & Brown, 2022].

All the articles in this special issue consist of teaching and learning studies in which the authors applied a phenomenological research design. https://www.ul.ac.za/aportal/index.php?Entity=Special%20Issue%202022

Koopman emphasised the importance and benefits of doctoral cohorts in higher education institutions and their relevance in supporting postgraduate students to succeed from start to finish. Brown also reiterated that in his view, the take-home message of the postgraduate workshop focusing on phenomenology illuminates the importance of ‘human experiences’ and quotes the sentiments of Higgs (1995) by stating, “The world is in us, and we are in the world”.

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No single event captures the incredible breadth of intramural and extramural research as effectively as the annual CPUT Research Festival 2024.

The jam-packed event stretched over four days, The first day of the 2024 Institutional Research Festival kicked off with a welcome address by Vice-Chancellor Prof Chris Nhlapo in which he encouraged the continued support for the focus areas:

• The environment, climate change and sustainability
• Bioeconomy and biotechnology
• Space Science, Engineering and Technology
• Smart energy
• Human, Health and Social dynamics
• Digital society

Day one of the festival also focused on integrating work-focused research and the world of business and served as a platform to showcase and celebrate research achievements across various disciplines. The keynote speech was provided by Dr Sharman Wickham from the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC). Dr Abeda Dawood Division Manager of Research Capacity Development (RCD) at the South African Medical Research Council made a presentation on RCD grants, such as self-initiated research grants, scholarships, and other research capacity development programmes at SAMRC.

Prof Dina Burger: Director: Directorate Research Development, said: “This is also the first time in South Africa that a Research Festival of this magnitude has taken place and as CPUT we should be proud that we have pioneered such an important opportunity to come together and celebrate the dedicated hard work of so many research work that has taken place with the singular aim to improve the lives of our communities through quintuple helix partnerships.”

In what used to be a Research Day, Burger said their scope of research has grown in leaps and bounds to such an extent that “it is actually impossible to just focus on our research achievements in one day”. “This is where we developed the concept of a research festival where we can place a magnifying glass on the full scope of our research endeavours inclusive of research integrity and ethics of our research and our postgraduate achievements.”

She said through their CHEC partnership they are doing highly impactful research that is taken up by society for the benefit of society. “There are also a number of evidence-based research projects undertaken as a result of the support given by CHEC. The possibility to also celebrate the extent to which we undertake mode 2 and 3 research with quintuple helix partners aligns well with our Vision 2030 especially when there is a growing body of evidence of transdisciplinary research taking place across the institution.”

Burger said the first Research Festival has also allowed multiple internal and external stakeholders and CHEC partners to exhibit the research that they do collaboratively and has offered an opportunity for academic researchers, captains of industry, sister university academic researchers, and higher education leaders as well as local and provincial government leaders to come together for one week to further explore opportunities and deepen the commitment to undertake collaborative research and innovation impacting the society.

“I am of the opinion that we have achieved our goal... What is most important for me is that an important ecosystem has joined hands and has come together to find mutual opportunities to undertake more research and generate more innovations for the betterment of society and solving the challenges that we are confronted with.”

The last day of the conference included several individual paper presentations with themed colloquia centred around Research Focus Area 1: Bioeconomy and Biotechnology and Research Focus Area 3: Smart Energy.

The day also included a reflection session and certificate ceremony for participants of the Sisonke Supervision Mentoring Programme.

The day’s highlights included the awarding of certificates and awards to National Research Foundation-rated researchers as well as for research excellence.

Burger said: “We feel proud of this achievement, but we also do not wish to take credit for the success of the festival by ourselves, as credit should go to the staff, we worked tirelessly to make the festival possible, our CHEC partners, our academic staff, our phenomenal postgraduate students and our industry and broader community stakeholders. We also need to reflect more on how to improve the scale and reach of the next Research Festival and the mode of delivery.”

She added: “We ultimately think that this festival has the potential to include our myriads of African partners as well as our growing network of international partners.”