A Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, who fuses technology into his teaching, has earned himself a National Excellence in Teaching Awards Commendation from the Council on Higher Education/Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (CHE/HELTASA).

After bagging a CPUT Institutional Teaching Excellence Award earlier this year, Dr Zayd Waghid, entered the national awards and walked away with a commendation for his contribution to teaching and learning in the country’s higher education.

“The CHE/HELTASA Committee commends you for a portfolio demonstrating a rich and diverse teaching approach and a clearly articulated philosophy,” reads a letter from the Awards Committee. “We invite you to join us at the HELTASA Conference on 27-29 November 2019 in Grahamstown.”

Waghid says the commendation is a validation of his teaching excellence at national level and that his achievement shows that CPUT is serious about teaching.

“My teaching excellence stems from developing myself academically and having strong relations with my students,” says the former teacher at South Peninsula High.

Having grown up in a family of academics, he asserts his ambition to become a professor one day. His father Yusef is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy of Education at Stellenbosch University, while his brother, Dr Faiq Waghid, is an academic at CPUT’s Centre for Innovative Educational Technology.

Despite the commendation, Waghid says he feels the need to grow himself academically as well as further strengthen his student relations and collaborations with international universities.

He observed that when teaching their learners, his students’ teaching methods are similar to his as they also make use of technology in their classes.

Waghid, who joined CPUT four years ago, developed a teaching philosophy and innovative pedagogies which included the use of gamification, film and online group blogs.

His philosophy helps disadvantaged students who enter CPUT to transition into higher education through the use of technology.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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The Qualifications Evaluation Committee’s reviewers were awarded certificates in recognition of their important contribution to the quality review of new Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework-aligned qualifications.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching & Learning, Prof Rishidaw Balkaran, awarded the certificates at the last Qualifications Evaluation Committee (QEC) meeting which was held recently. Balkaran commended them for the excellent work they did in 2019.

A total number of 26 new qualifications were processed for offering in 2021.

The new Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework qualifications will now be submitted to the Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology (DHEST), the Council on Higher Education (CHE) as well as the South African Qualifications Authority for approval, accreditation and registration.

The QEC is a working committee to quality assure new programmes that will be submitted to the Council on Higher Education for accreditation or applications sent to the DHEST for the approval of Extended Curriculum Programmes. It will also ensure that the policy implementation is consistent with the university’s quality standards and requirements for the curriculum.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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The Radiography Department at Tygerberg Hospital is breaking new grounds in the field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
The department is the first in South Africa to offer a structured one-year post-graduate course in MRI. The Health Professions council of South Africa (HPCSA) has approved the course as an additional qualification. Six radiographers successfully completed the course last year.

MRI has become the imaging modality of choice in the management of patients who present with various medical histories. This is because MRI can image virtually every part of the body.

Ms Valdiela Daries, a lecturer in the department and the MRI course co-ordinator, said traditionally radiographers have received “on-the-job” training to operate the very expensive, sophisticated imaging equipment with no significant background of MRI physics, principles and techniques.

“The MRI course was developed, not only for the need for radiographers to develop professionally, but new technological advances in MRI are introduced regularly. It has become essential for radiographers to be informed of the latest international developments,” said Ms Daries.

The radiographers attend block periods for lectures. Various radiologists, engineers, technicians, application specialists and radiographers lecture during the course. Experts in the field act as examiners, moderators, presenters and demonstrators. The students are required to do 700 hours of practical training in their workplace.

“As the Council on Higher Education (CHE) requires proof of acceptance from the radiography professional body before they consider our application, we will shortly forward our application to the CHE for institutional accreditation,” said Ms Daries.

CAPTION:

First graduates of the Postgraduate certificate in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. At the back: Mr Carlo Wagner (Symington & Partners: N1 City), Ms Monique van Niekerk (Schnetler & Partners: Panorama), Ms Patricia Heidmann (Morton & Partners: Claremont), Ms Bronwen Mackrill (Morton & Partners: Claremont), Ms Natalie Bennie (Tuft & Partners, Constantiaberg). In front: Ms Estelle Arendse (Tygerberg Academic Hospital), Ms Valdiela Daries (CPUT lecturer and course co-ordinator), Ms Naomi Fenton (HOD: Symington & Partners and course co-ordinator).

Written by CPUT News
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CPUT lecturer Bernie Millar is one of South Africa’s most innovative teachers. And she has the proof.

Millar has been voted as one of the most innovative teachers by the Council on Higher Education and the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa.

A lecturer in the Textile and Technology Department, Millar is one of 14 teachers in South Africa to receive this recognition.

An annual award, it recognises teachers who are thinking out of the box and who are introducing innovative teaching methods to ensure students reach their full potential.

FUN: Awonke Kani and Noncedo Buso are learning how to multiply by playing a game of cards during one of Bernie Millar’s lessons

Millar’s uses teaching methods such as free writing, visual literacy education and new media. Earlier this year she introduced poker and other card games to teach mathematics.

“I like to try new things all the time. I also use laughter as a strategy. I want students to see learning as fun.”

And her efforts are paying off. This year alone, a majority of her students’ marks have doubled during the past few months.

Passionate about education, Millar says the highlight of teaching is engaging with students and being able to draw the best out of them.

Millar, who will receive the award in December, says she is very excited about the commendation.

“I am very pleased because this is not just an achievement for me and my department, but for CPUT,” she says.

Millar also holds the Faculty of Engineering Distinguished Teacher’s Award for 2012.

By Candes Keating

Written by CPUT News
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As required by the Council on Higher Education (CHE), the Quality Management Directorate at CPUT, together with the Faculty Coordinators, have compiled the interviewees’ list ahead of the planned virtual visit from 19 to 22 October.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in CHE conducting this year’s Doctoral Review online and interviews will be conducted through Zoom meetings. The aims of the interviews include the gathering of additional clarity and information on what institutions included in their Institutional Self-Evaluation Report submitted earlier this year.

“The panel will triangulate the interviewee responses, together with their different opinions and views, and draw their own conclusions from the process,” says National Review of Doctoral Qualifications Institutional Coordinator is this at CPUT, Dr Siyanda Makaula. “The identified interviewees are expected to answer truthfully and honestly, and as a result the process is confidential, and anonymity is respected.” 

Interviewees can expect to be asked about their experiences of the processes involved in the doctoral qualifications. “The interviews will be managed by the chairperson of the panel and will not take more than an hour for each group. An invitation will be sent out by the CHE, inviting interviewees to join the panel in Zoom sessions,” adds Makaula. “These questions should be open, concise and clear, not rhetorical or infused with explicit or implied comments of the processes involved.”

He advises that during the interviews the chairperson has the right to intervene should there be any deviation from interview questions and processes, while the CHE observer may also confidentially advise the chairperson on occurrence of deviation, biased behaviour and possible unfairness. He confirms that there will be no audio-recording of interviews as this may compromise the honesty of the interviewees and that they should feel comfortable about voicing their views openly.

As the review process is scheduled for four days, the panel may need clarification on certain matters. “Interviewees will be asked to remain available for panel interviews throughout the site visit,” warns Makaula. “If the panel needs to talk to an interviewee again, they will indicate this to the Quality Management Directorate (QMD) and the interviewee will receive a call from the unit.”

In separate sessions the panel members will interview the university’s senior management, staff members from the Centre for Postgraduate Studies, Research Unit and QMD as well as supervisors, examiners, administrators, students and alumni to verify some of their inputs. He insists that the panel’s lines of enquiry will come out of the Self-evaluation report developed by the University and submits the following guide of the interview sessions as what can be expected:

Interviewees can expect to be invited by the QMD to a briefing session the week before the panel visit, where some more details will be discussed and all questions and queries from the interviewees answered. The CHE will then invite interviewees to their hour-long session during the week of 19-22 October. 

“Immediately following the CHE session, a Teams meeting invitation from the QMD will be waiting for the interviewees of that session,” says Makaula. “This will be for a short, half-hour debriefing session in which open discussion is invited from the interviewees on their experiences of the interviewee session.”

He adds that all thoughts and ideas are welcome during this debriefing session and the QMD will note them for future improvements.

For more information contact Makaula on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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In a bid to professionalize the paralegal sector and contribute to the transformation of the legal profession as well as higher education curricula, CPUT will from 2018 be offering the new Bachelor of Paralegal Studies degree.

The degree, being the first of its kind in the country, is designed to consolidate the fragmented approach to paralegal education in South Africa and bring comprehensive paralegal education firmly within the domain of higher education.

The Unit for Applied Law at CPUT obtained approval for the degree from the Department of Higher Education and Training as well as the Council on Higher Education.

Whilst preparing students for existing and future paralegal careers, aimed at meeting the primary legal needs of individuals and communities, the academic programme will also assist with the current challenges in the country’s legal education by providing a conduit to the LLB degree that serves as both a preparatory and screening mechanism for prospective candidates for the private legal profession, says the unit’s HoD, Adv Noleen Leach.

The programme rests on four core pillars of legal education, namely Private Law, Public Law, Mercantile Law and Formal Law.  Formal Law, for the most part, has been integrated into the other three pillars where appropriate, and the work-integrated components woven into the programme.

The programme takes three years to complete on a fulltime basis and five years part-time in the absence of any credit transfer or recognition of prior learning.

An APS score of 30 points is required to apply for the degree, but for more information about entry requirements contact Adv Leach on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0219596418.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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CPUT recently celebrated the closing out of phase one of the Institutional Audit (IA) and marked the launch of the second phase.

The Council on Higher Education (CHE) defines the IA as an external quality review process of an institution’s quality management system and its constituent elements, based on that institution’s identity, nature, context and strategic goals.

In her welcoming address, Prof Driekie Hay-Swemmer, Executive Director in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, said the occasion was a very special one on the CPUT calendar and paid tribute to the staff of the Quality Management Directorate and its Director, Dr Siyanda Makaula.

She said institutional audits are a major project “and yet with deadly precision, planning in a meticulous way, we started and rolled out phase one of the Institutional Audit”.

The various working group facilitators, Self-Evaluation Report writers and student engagement working group shared their experiences.

In his message of support and appreciation, Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chris Nhlapo, said the Higher Education Act of 1997 assigns the responsibility for quality assurance in Higher Education South Africa to the CHE.

He said this responsibility is discharged through its permanent subcommittee, the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) and its mandate, among others includes: quality promotion, Institutional Quality Audit and programme accreditation.

“Institutional Audit constitute one of the mechanisms through which the HEQC carries out its responsibility for quality assurance. We know that the audit will focus on institutional policies, systems, procedures, strategies and resources for quality management of the core function of teaching and learning, research and innovation, community engagement, including the relevant academic support services. More specifically, IA will seek to assess an institution’s capacity for quality management of its academic activity in a manner that meets its specified mission, goals and objective and engage appropriately with the expectations and needs of various internal and external constituencies.”

The Vice-Chancellor expressed the hope that the Self Evaluation Report is going to assist the institution to reflect “and be the better selves”.

He said the institution was ready for the CHE site visit scheduled to take place from 10 to 14 October.

Prof Rishidaw Balkaran, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, said the entire event and the entire audit process journey reflected two things: oneness and smartness.

In the closing remarks, Dr David Phaho, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Technology Innovation and Partnerships, said CPUT would ensure that any shortcomings identified by the institutional panel were addressed while the institution would continue to improve any areas it was already doing well in.

“Continuous improvement will be our institutional mantra in our envisaged improvement plan at the end of the audit process.”

During the event, held at the Auditorium on the Bellville campus, tribute was paid to the Quality Management Directorate’s Luclaire Airey who recently passed away.

Hay-Swemmer said Airey had played a pivotal role in establishing quality assurance systems, processes and policies and acknowledged to role she played in preparation for the IA.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Vice-Chancellor Prof Chris Nhlapo has endorsed the launch of the forthcoming Institutional Audit by the Council on Higher Education (CHE).

In his opening address, at an Institutional Audit Virtual Launch, Nhlapo said in 2010, five years after the merger, CPUT underwent the first Institutional Audit. He said the recommendations from the CHE were incorporated into the Institutional Quality Improvement Plan and quality improvement activities were initiated in crosscutting areas such as governance, transformation, institutional culture and communication, as well as in specific functions such as library provision, research, human resources, security and residences. Nhlapo also acknowledged the Council's support for the institutional audit with the presence of its chairperson Adv Zuko Mapoma and his deputy, Dr Laurine Platzky.

The Institutional Audit Coordinator, Dr Siyanda Makaula outlined the processes that the Institution will undergo in preparing for this audit. Makaula said the “overarching purpose of an institutional audit was to evaluate the coherence and effectiveness of the institution’s internal quality assurance system in enabling student success and improving its core academic functions”.

He also added that the outcomes of the Institutional Audit will provide baseline information for an institutional track record that will form the basis for the implementation of the recently published CHE Quality Assurance Framework.

The Institution will be the main unit of analysis. The CHE will apply a review methodology based on reflexive praxis and peer review as the tools in conducting institutional audits.

The institution will be evaluated in terms of its “fitness of purpose, fitness for purpose, value for money, transformation and student success as a view of quality” – At CPUT, our definition of quality would not be sufficiently extensive if it did not encompass the interface of people (oneness) and technology (smartness).

Nhlapo said: “The main focus of the Institutional Quality Improvement Plan was to encourage integration across the many faculties, units and campuses of CPUT and to concentrate on activities that enhanced the teaching and learning processes, the student experience and student success. This plan was successfully closed out by the CHE on the 5th February 2014,” he continued.

“In the words of the CHE to CPUT: The Institutional Audits Committee, a sub-committee of the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), was impressed with the thorough way in which all of the recommendations from the audit report were addressed. The HEQC indicated that the progress report was a mature and courageous self-reflection.”

Nhlapo emphasised that the University’s vision has been revised. “We developed the goals for the University and have embedded these firmly in our qualifications and academic project. At that time, we were mindful that we had to choose our goals appropriately. We set out to develop the research framework that sets today’s foundation for our 2030 strategy embodied in “One Smart CPUT”.  He added that in the midst of the pandemic the University took part in the CHE’s Doctoral Qualification Review and now the Institution is preparing for the second HEQC’s Institutional Audit.

Reflecting on the function of the institutional audit, Nhlapo said: “In a sense, it takes a snapshot of our academic and strategic activities and through reflexive praxis and peer evaluation, evaluates our actions against the student experience and student success. It helps us to develop along a line of continuous improvement, as long as we are open and honest with declaring our strengths and weaknesses.”

The Vice-Chancellor pledged his full support to the Institutional Audit while ensuring a valid process. He requested staff and students alike to give of their expertise and experiences and provide a robust reflection that will take the University towards achieving the mission set out in Vision 2030.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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Quality Management Director Dr Siyanda Makaula has been appointed as a member of the National Standards and Reviews Committee (NSRC) of the Council on Higher Education (CHE).

The NSRC is a specialist governance structure of the CHE, a committee that supports the work of the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) in the area of qualification standards development and national reviews of programmes and qualifications. It reviews progress reports to confirm that quality improvement plans emanating from national reviews of qualifications have been implemented and completed by higher education institutions. It makes recommendations on the outcomes of the national review process to the HEQC. HEQC is a permanent independent committee of the CHE that has executive authority on quality assurance matters in the Higher Education sector.

Makaula who joined CPUT in June 2019, said he felt honoured to have been appointed to the role.

“I feel honoured to be invited to serve in a manner that allows me to continue to contribute to transformation and excellence of our higher education sector through quality assurance.”

Asked how his past experience has prepared him for this role, Makaula said:

“I’m a higher education leader, a quality management and assurance professional, an advocate for higher education quality through transformation, excellence and accountability. I bring a wide range of experience in development and implementation of national higher education, and institutional academic, policies and quality assurance frameworks.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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