A CHEC 2010 Research Colloquium will be hosted between the City of Cape Town, Provincial Government and higher education institutions in the Western Cape on 2 November 2009.

The aim of the workshop will be to share the plans, research conducted and research gaps/ requirements from City and Province with respect to the 2010 FIFA World Cup as well as to provide an overview of 2010-related research, research capacity and possible research projects at higher education institutions in the Western Cape.

In order to prepare for this overview, we request that CPUT staff involved in 2010 research (and those considering 2010 research opportunities) complete a questionnaire so that the results can be collated as part of a joint presentation for higher education institutions.

Click here to download the questionnaire.

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Written by CPUT News
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FOUR CPUT staff members are celebrating an extra special International Nurses Day today after being inducted into the Honour Society of Nursing.

The four staff members - Dr Theresa Bock, Dr Anso Truter, Dr Evalina van Wijk and Chantal Settley- were among eight new members inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI society during an event hosted by CPUT at the Bellville Campus.

Four staff members from the University of the Western Cape were also inducted.

STTI provides nurses with resources and opportunities to engage with other nursing leaders and develop their professional and leadership skills.

Membership is by invitation to baccalaureate and graduate nursing students who demonstrate excellence in scholarship and to mentor leaders exhibiting exceptional achievements in nursing.

The society has more than 135 000 members in more than 90 countries.

Settley, a nursing educator, said she was honoured to be one of the inductees.

“I see it as an opportunity for professional development and to learn and grow.”

The event also celebrated International Nurses Day, which is held on May 12 every year, and marks the contribution nurses make to society.

Professor Karien Jooste, Head of the Department of Nursing Science at CPUT, said the event showed how nursing colleagues at the Western Cape’s four major tertiary institutions were working together to the benefit of the nursing profession.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Vice-Chancellor Dr Chris Nhlapo invited CPUT staff members to join the institution as it embarks on the “One Smart CPUT journey”.

Nhlapo was addressing hundreds of staff members from the various campuses during a staff event held at the Bellville Campus last week.

The presentation was themed Listen, Engage and Commit.

Nhlapo said discussion around the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not going away.

“We, as humans, have to take up our rightful places in a world more and more populated by machines – machines that are increasingly intelligent. There is solid evidence from the past that we as humans have the ability to upskill”.

He said the sole purpose of education, according to the National Development Plan and many other sources, is the development of the ability to think, learn and relate to the global environment.

“CPUT is embarking on our One Smart CPUT journey. I’m inviting all of you to join us on this One Smart CPUT journey. We don’t need to predict the future; we do need to create the future.”

Nhlapo said there is no denying that the world of work will be greatly impacted by technology and automation innovations.
CPUT has a responsibility to ensure that our students and our staff are capacitated to join the workforce.

“CPUT needs to engage and commit to a new teaching and learning model and we will ask of our research community to contribute to this discourse.”

He said the university’s history is one of disconnectedness and diversity.

“Our One Smart CPUT is therefore focused on more than the technological world. It is our renewed contract with human-centricity and our biggest assets and resources – our people.”
Nhlapo said engagement has to be an institution-wide commitment, not confined to individual academics or projects.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Areas of possible intervention when considering decolonising South African universities include changing research and teaching content, learning and teaching methods, institutional structures and university governance.

These and other areas were discussed by the University of South Australia’s Professors Marie Brennan and Lew Zipin during a Research Seminar organised by the Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development on the Bellville Campus recently.

The duo delivered a lecture titled: “Socially Just Curricula and University Teaching: Urgencies, Emergencies and Emergences”.

She said that disciplinary knowledge, curricula and syllabi as well as institutional structures and university governance should be decolonised.

The visiting academics fielded pertinent and tough questions from members of the audience.

Fundani Director, Prof Monwabisi Ralarala, welcomed the guests to CPUT and thanked them for sharing their vast knowledge and international experience with the university.

Brennan is an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia and an Extraordinary Professor at Stellenbosch University. She worked as a humanities teacher, curriculum researcher and senior administrator in the state Department of Education, Victoria, in the 1970s and 1980s.Zipin is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education at the University of South Australia and an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University. Lew’s research focuses on developing a curriculum that ‘does justice’ by engaging the knowledge, intelligence, and future-oriented aspirations of students from power-marginalised families and communities.

Written by Kwanele Butana

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Catering company Feedem, CATHSSeta and CPUT have joined forces to develop a short course for junior management in the catering industry for the first time.

The Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality, Sports Sectoral Education Training Authority (CATHSSeta) was eager to support the venture, which saw the three entities work together to develop an eight-month, part-time short course: Catering Production Management.

At the graduating ceremony last week Arnelle Meyer of CPUT’s Graduate Centre for Management said the Cape Town Hotel School was keen to get involved.
“We do not say no at the GCM, we said ‘we can do this, we can make it work’,” said Meyer.

A total of 21 out of 26 students completed the course which included subjects such as Customer Care and Service Excellence; Basic Junior Management: Business Skills; and Menu Planning and Culinary Trends. The Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal Feedem employees attended classes over an eight-month period.

Denise Geldenhuys, Operation Manager for Feedem, said the company is keen to develop their workers into future managers.
“This is the first bursary programme we’ve worked on and we would do it again,” said Geldenhuys.

CATHSSeta Manager for Western Cape Martha Collett told the graduates the knowledge in their heads and skills in their hands was nothing without the right attitude in their heart.
“Your attitude will determine your altitude,” Collett told the graduates.

In addition to receiving certificates, three of the students were honoured with special awards. Maritsa Douries was deemed the Most Diligent Student while Lizel Adams and Elwendel Brown shared the award for being Top Achievers. Speaking on behalf of the students Brown thanked their facilitators for their patience and said while it was a tough few weeks she believed that nothing is too difficult to achieve if you have the right attitude and willpower.

Written by Theresa Smith

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Provides coverage for the Applied Sciences and Engineering Faculties and the Wellington Campus.

Staff members from the Department of Biomedical Sciences were recently invited onboard the Statsraad Lehmkuhl where they shared their experiences of a collaboration with the Western Norway University of Applied Science (HVL).

The department’s collaboration with HVL dates back to 2008 when a memorandum of understanding was signed which allows students from CPUT to spend three months in Norway doing a clinical placement and Norwegian students to come to Cape Town to do a combination of a clinical placement and mini research project,” said Assoc Prof Glenda Davison, head of the Department.

In 2016, Prof Tandi Matsha, the former head of the department, together with colleagues from HVL applied for the UTFORSK grant which enabled the two universities to expand their collaboration and explore platforms for joint research projects.

This resulted in a joint publication which was the first study examining the incidence of HNF1A and GCK Mature Onset Diabetes of the young (MODY) variants in a South African population.

Davison continued the collaboration and except for 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, CPUT continued to host exchange students.

“To date, the two universities have had a 15-year relationship in which 28 Norwegian students and 14 South Africans have benefited from this international exchange,” said Davison.

During the recent event onboard the Statsraad Lehmkuhl staff from the Department shared their experiences. This included, Davison who conducted a presentation, Dr Yvonne Prince who has been instrumental in welcoming the Norwegian students and ensuring that all the arrangements and clinical placements for the exchange run smoothly as well as senior lecturer Dr Stanton Hector. Dr Shanel Raghubeer and Dr Saarah Davids also attended and are researchers in the SAMRC/CPUT Cardiometabolic Health Research unit and have supervised the Norwegian students in their research.

The Statsraad Lehmkuhl is a training ship which was built in 1914 and is currently doing a circumnavigation of the world to raise awareness about the role of the oceans in sustainable development. Part of the visit to Cape Town was to explore North-South collaborations and how the world can work together to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals.

“Being on board this beautiful ship was a very special experience. It was uplifting to meet academics from other universities around South Africa as well as Norway who were all working together to make a difference not only in research but also in both tertiary education and schools. For me, the most important message was that if the world works together and shares skills and ideas, we can achieve anything. Overall, the visit was a positive experience and we left motivated to continue and expand our collaboration with HVL,” said Davison.

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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CPUT is expecting about 34 968 students to register for the 2023 academic year when the registration process commences as early as 30 January.

The Institution expects about 8 721 new students (undergraduates) and 25 910 returning students who consist of undergraduates and postgraduates. The timelines have been outlined in the 2023 registration booklet and may vary within faculties. The registration booklet is downloadable from the following link: Registration - CPUT.

Admissions and Registrations Centre Manager, Sonja Swanich, says the students can register from anywhere and do not have to report to campus. Swanich says all registration will be conducted online only unless otherwise indicated in the 2023 registration booklet, which is downloadable from the CPUT website link.

She says the students who have applied and meet the entrance requirements and have been fully accepted are allowed to register, “unless there is a restriction on their record prohibiting them from doing so – please refer to the 2023 registration booklet obtainable from the CPUT website”.

“CPUT is facing load shedding challenges, but the registration team is working very hard to ensure that all students receive the best service regardless of this challenge. Students are also reminded that they can apply and register from anywhere and do not have to report to campus,” Swanich says in her message to the prospective CPUT students and returning students.

She adds that she expects faculties to meet their enrolment targets. Furthermore, Swanich says the late applications are to follow the process as outlined in the late application guideline that will be announced on the CPUT website link Late Applications - CPUT.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce

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Five CPUT staff members from the university’s Emergency Medical Sciences Department flew to Turkey this week to assist with search and rescue operations in that country.

Turkey and Syria were struck by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the death toll is reported to have surpassed 5000. CPUT and Gift of the Givers have a long-standing working relationship with staff members previously joining the disaster response NGO to the 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 2018 tsunami in Indonesia.

Acting Head of Department for Emergency Medical Sciences at CPUT Dr Simpiwe Sobuwa will be joining the mission along with colleagues Louis Jordaan, Rozaan Norval, Xavier Millar and Raina Gihwala.

Sobuwa says that they were eager to use their unique skills to assist in a natural disaster of this scale and will be taking specialised rescue equipment with them on the mission.

The are able to perform specialised urban search and rescue along with high angle and confined rescues. Each of the five members will have their own rescue equipment.

“We would also gain valuable experience in assisting in an international disaster,” says Sobuwa.

The team of five is expected to be part of the rescue operation for one week and their absence will not affect lectures or students.

CPUT Emergency Medical Science students are trained in a range of search and rescue efforts including mountain rescue, vehicle collisions and complicated natural disasters like earthquakes.

Written by Lauren Kansley
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Liaises with the media and writes press releases about interesting developments at CPUT.