Hard work pays off.

This is true for Chemical Engineering graduate, Sipiwe Shoko, who was awarded the Faculty of Engineering Dean’s Medal at the eighth graduation ceremony that took place on the Bellville Campus.

The medal is one of 12 awarded this week to the two top achievers in each faculty.

Shoko obtained distinctions in 25 of her 26 subjects, with an aggregate of 83.7% for the diploma.

Shoko is proof that CPUT is producing highly skilled graduates who will play key roles in growing and sustaining the country’s engineering sector.

The role graduates will play in the country was emphasized by Commander Tsieti Mokhele, the guest speaker at the ceremony.

The CEO of the South African Maritime Safety Authority, Mokhele urged graduates to not just be “engineers” but to become builders of industry and of society. He also urged graduates to provide leadership in the country.

Mokhele says the country does not need graduates who are “demanders” but rather men and women who will deploy their skills appropriately and play a positive role in developing South Africa and the continent.

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.

Hundreds of graduates from the Tourism, Hospitality, Printing and Public Management Departments of the Business Faculty were capped this morning.

Businesswoman and entrepreneur, Viola Manuel, the former Executive Director of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was the guest speaker at this third ceremony of the Faculty of Business. Manuel’s inspirational address included a reminder to graduates to acknowledge the parents, caregivers and various donors and supporters who have all contributed to their academic success.

“As new graduates in a difficult job market, you will encounter self-doubt, feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. But by running at these demons with a healthy dose of fear, as David ran towards Goliath, you’ll be able to triumph and succeed,” says Manuel.

She also urged graduates to engage in social entrepreneurship and enter the working world with a mindset of doing things for the greater good.

“As new graduates entering the workforce, bear in mind that the greatest rewards will come to you when you are not just chasing money, but chasing the opportunity to make a contribution in whatever field you find yourself in. This begins by standing out - doing the simplest, most basic tasks assigned to you absolutely brilliantly, doing the common things uncommonly well. Building on this brilliance is how the CEO’s, Operations Manager and HR Managers will take notice of you, because you’ve done the simple things incredibly well.”

Autumn graduation is nearing the halfway mark with graduates from the Biomedical Technology, Emergency Medical Care, Nursing and Radiography Departments set to receive their diplomas and degrees this evening. The graduates are all from the Faculty of Health and Wellness Science, who will be hosting this sixth graduation ceremony on the Bellville campus.

Written by Janyce Weintrob
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Dream big or don’t dream at all. Former diplomat, academic and businessman, Prof Eltie Links urged graduates to never stop dreaming and to work hard towards fulfilling those dreams. 

Guest speaker Links was the first of 12 of South Africa’s most notable role-players in politics, industry and academia to share some valuable words of advice to the graduating class of 2013.

Links, who currently chairs a number of high-profile boards, says students must also be flexible in their dreams by participating in lifelong learning, which will position them to take up opportunities that could come their way.

“Get your qualifications lined up for more than just one opportunity,” he says.

Links also urged graduates to have dreams that will not just benefit their own well-being but that of the community, who has played a key role in their development.

“A dream must benefit others. A selfish dream cannot be successful.”

He also cautioned graduates to not just chase money, but to realize that there are many other important dreams to chase.

WELL DESERVED: A graduate receives her certificate

Tonight, graduates in the Faculties of Applied Sciences, Business and Engineering will be addressed by Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng, the Vice Principal of Research and Innovation at UNISA. The ceremony will take place at the Major Sports Hall on the Bellville Campus.

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 Centre for Distributed Power and Electronic Systems is very proud of their two doctoral and five master’s graduands who will be among the last students capped at this year’s Summer Graduation.

The students studied Electrical Engineering and Ayonkunle Oluwaseun Ayeleso and Gunjan Gupta are Doctor of Electrical Engineering graduands supervised by the CDPES.

Ayeleso’s research for his DEng Electrical Engineering focused on a novel alternative energy conversion and generation system based on Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and the fourth state of matter known as plasma. He built a prototype MHD system and published seven accredited journal and conference papers for the work that led to his thesis, An improved plasma energy conversion system for Electric Power Generation.

This focus on alternatives is a big focal point of the CDPES, headed by Prof Tariq Kahn, who supervised Ayeleso.

“The Energy sector is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Do we have a solution for a seemingly dystopian future? On the one hand there is space exploration but that would be pretty useless if you go into space but Earth falls apart. Spaceship Earth has limited resources and the allocation from our current lifestyle simply uses too much. The world has to adjust and new forms of energy generation are needed,” said Kahn.

Director of CPUT’s Energy Institute, Kahn says while they realise the need to encourage students to research alternative energy sources, they cannot ignore the fossil fuel mix and the gas reserves of Mozambique and Namibia need investigating. The Western Cape’s dire water situation also means relooking how steam is utilised in power stations with an eye on desalination technology.

Another important focus area is power grids, featured in Gunjan Gupta’s DEng Electrical Engineering thesis An analysis and improvement of selected features of power quality of grid-tied alternative energy systems. Gupta, supervised by Prof Wilfred Fritz, has published her simulation results in two journal publications and six conference proceedings.

Dr Atanda Raji supervised Gideon Joubert’s Master’s thesis Advanced technological solutions to the negative perceptions of nuclear power plants. Joubert, who will graduate summa cum laude, looked at how nuclear technology has evolved into a safer and cleaner alternative method of power generation since it was first introduced.

Like Joubert, Hlonela Gesha did the new MTech Energy Coursework which is a Masters course that runs parallel to the regular Master of Electrical Engineering course. Gesha was supervised by Kahn for the thesis An analysis of the environmental impacts of biomass application hybrid Microgrids in South Africa.

Tariq Lameen, also supervised by Kahn, wrote the Master’s thesis Development of a photovoltaic reverse osmosis fogging demineralizer for improved gas turbine generation output.

William Murray, who will graduate his MEng Electrical Engineering summa cum laude, was supervised by Dr Marco Adonis for his thesis Energy Wheeling viability of distributed renewable energy for industry. He investigated the economic viability and technical concerns of transporting electricity generated by an Independent Power Producer directly to an industrial consumer.

Supervised by Dr Wilfred Fritz and Kahn, Nkusi Emmanuel will graduate as a Master of Electrical Engineering having written the thesis Modelling of Harmonic Stability and Voltage Distortion between Electrical Grid and Renewable Generation Technologies.

Written by Theresa Smith
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Stefani Swart, who was awarded the Dean’s Medal at today’s Faculty of Business and Management Sciences’ graduation ceremony after obtaining her diploma Summa Cum Laude, says her hard work has paid off.

Stefani obtained distinctions in all 18 subjects and achieved an aggregate of 88.67% over the three years of study towards the National Diploma in Tourism Management.

The 21-year-old grew up in Paarl where she obtained her Senior Certificate at La Rochelle Girls High School in 2015.

She says studying very hard and putting a lot of effort in one’s work is all it needed for her to earn her achievement.

While as part of her Work-Integrated Learning she worked for N-Concepts and Design, a Paarl-based wedding and events management company, Stefani will now work as an assistant teacher at W A Joubert Primary School.     

She will also be studying Education: Foundation Phase through distance learning. “I have always wanted to do tourism and then pursue my passion for teaching children.”

Written by Kwanele Butana
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A determined graduate has overcome a mobility disability and other challenges to obtain his BTech: Public Management degree.

Andile Magqabi was capped on Wednesday during the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences’ graduation ceremony.

He is wheelchair-bound and became paralysed after surviving a shooting incident in Gugulethu in December 2015. He completed his diploma at CPUT in 2016 and says that’s when things changed completely.

Accessing facilities on campus was a challenge as some lecture rooms were not accessible by wheelchair.

“Nonetheless, there were friends and classmates who were willing to assist me,” adds the Alice-born graduate. “The lecturers were understanding and gave me additional time to complete assessments.”

He says his lecturers were very supportive of his academic development and general welfare. “They would give me time off to see doctors and email me lecture notes when I missed class.”

He also thanks the Disability Unit for assisting differently abled students by listening and attending to their concerns.

“CPUT taught me self-discipline, respect and meaning to the axiom that whatever you’re going through in life you’re not alone,” recalls the Sandenberg Residence’s senior student.

“I went to church for the first time here at CPUT and learnt that God is able and willing and that where there’s a will there’s a way.”

He thanks his parents and friends as well his lecturers Altee Whittaker and Dr Stan Cronje, who is a pillar of strength in Andile’s life and a parent not only to him but to the rest of the students.

He says differently abled students fear going to school because of the pressure to perform from able-bodied students and more can be done to make facilities accessible to wheelchair bound and visually-impaired students.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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Growing up in Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape Sinamandla Maqina was that child who would take apart the radio. He wanted to know where the voices were coming from, but would always end up with pieces of unidentifiable equipment strewn on the floor.

“Unfortunately, I cost my parents a few of those,” he remembers with a wry grin.

Today Sinamandla graduates with a Master’s in Electrical Engineering and the confidence to build a radio from scratch.

The 28-year-old has already done more than reconstitute a radio, his Master’s thesis was “X-band Antenna Design for Nano-Satellite Applications”. This means, supervised by Prof Robert Lehmensiek, he designed an x-band antenna, modelled and simulated it on a computer and then built a working prototype. This antenna has since been built and installed on CPUT’s second nano-satellite which will be launched into space on Christmas Day.

While the nano-satellite uses the S-band for communication, the X-band antenna will be used when it has to send large amounts of data down to earth.

Sinamandla picked this particular thesis topic because of his interest in communication, but he didn’t start out in this exact field. When he registered at CPUT he had to enter the Mechanical Engineering department as his first choice was full. Once he graduated with his Diploma he switched to Electrical Engineering like his older sister.

He describes his first few months at CPUT as difficult, confusing even, because everything was studied through English only. “The problem was in class it would be difficult to understand, but as you go through the work you would see there are things you understand, but they are just moving really fast. Group study helped a lot.”

It also helped to realise that he wasn’t the only student who was struggling: “It’s not anything new, this idea of learning, it is just how it is being done and the speed at which it comes at you, that is different.”

Sinamanda figures next up he had better get a job in the real world of space aeronautics communication, but he doesn’t discount starting on a DEng in the near future. It’s just a case of fine-tuning what he wants, something he learned over the years at CPUT.

Written by Theresa Smith
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It was a celebration of hard work and resilience when postgraduate graduates in the Faculty of Informatics and Design were “robed” during a special ceremony. 

The ceremony has become a tradition in the Faculty and gives the graduates and their supervisors the opportunity to share and reflect on their journey to graduation while family members are given the chance to robe the graduates.

Six Master’s and eight doctoral candidates were robed during this morning’s ceremony while distinguished artist Conrad Theys, who will be receiving an honorary doctorate in Arts and Design during this evening’s ceremony, was also honoured.

“Thank you for recognising me as one of you. Thank you for recognising me as an artist and as a child of South Africa,” said Theys.

“I feel very honoured. I don’t how to tell you how pleased I am, how lucky I am.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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The Nursing Science Department can add another trophy to its case after graduate Helene Mausling walked away with the Ian Webster Silver Medal Award.

Helene, who studied part-time and completed her BTech: Occupational Health Nursing in 2017, received the award during the recent SA Society of Occupational Health Nursing Practitioners (SASOHN) National Conference held at the Spier Conferencing Centre.

She scored the highest marks in the country for the course.

“I did not expect to receive an award at all. I feel very honoured that an institution like SASOHN will recognise and reward a student in such a way,” said Mausling. 

Prof Karien Jooste, Head of the Department of Nursing Science, said CPUT scored a double win this year.

Not only was Mausling the overall winner but because of the marginal difference between her mark and that of another CPUT graduate, Yolanda Koorzen, the executive decided to award Koorzen a medal as well.

Koorzen will receive her award at the first function hosted by the Western Cape SASOHN Committee in 2019.

Mausling said her grandmother and aunt were both nursing sisters but it was not until a friend started working in the field that she gained an inside look into nursing.
“That persuaded me to pursue a career in nursing. I have not looked back since as I feel this is my calling.”

She said it was difficult to juggle her studies, work and family life but that she always made time for her family and friends.

“I still remember what one of my lecturers told me as I started as a student nurse. She said that even if you don’t feel like studying you just grab your collar and put yourself down in front of your books and figuratively that is what I did.”

• Each year training institutions across South Africa, who offer a post-basic degree programme in Occupational Health Nursing, are invited to submit the names of students who achieved 75% or above to SASOHN to assess eligibility for the Ian Webster Silver Medal Award.

The SASOHN National Educational Representative and the SASOHN National executive members then review all the submissions for the highest mark attained. Recipients have to hold SASOHN membership.

This award was donated to SASOHN by Prof Ian Webster on his retirement from the National Research Institute for Occupational Diseases in 1998 and is awarded annually.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Recent graduate Philasande Ntlebi has won Agri-SETA’s national Best Performing Learner: Internship award.

As a ND: Agriculture Management student Philasande did his Work Integrated Learning at Abagold in 2017, a post which was funded with an Agri-SETA internship grant. After he graduated the abalone farming company kept him on as a junior manager in one of their abalone out-grower farms.

Philasande expressed great surprise at winning the award but says it affirms that he made the correct study choice: “I’ve discovered I actually have so much potential to win all the goals I have set for myself. I want to open my own farming enterprise and employ people and make business throughout Africa,” he said.

The 23-year-old from Queenstown is the first Agriculture Management student to do his WIL at this company which had only worked with Food Technology students from CPUT before he came along. His enthusiasm and work ethic changed that and this year there are four Agriculture Management students doing their WIL at Abagold in Hermanus.

“I am proud to say I am helping them to understand what is going on in the company and how to carry out all the things they have to do.”

He described his WIL stint as “the most inspiring time ever.”

“At first it was difficult because I had to prove myself. I made sure to apply everything I learned at the university and just tried to show what I could do.”

For the last three months of his WIL Philasande was given the chance to supervise a farm’s operations and he had to quickly learn how to instruct people who were older than him. “I didn’t know I had it in me. I didn’t know I could take so much pressure or lead people.”

Next Philasande does want to do his BTech part-time while continuing to work at Abagold because he knows he needs experience as well as more knowledge to progress within the company, but he is keen to give it a go.

“I like to challenge myself. I feel that I have a big future in this field.”

Written by Theresa Smith
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Over 100 disadvantaged students at CPUT will now be able to graduate free of student debt thanks to a R2.5 million donation from the FNB Fund. 

The donation will settle the outstanding fees and enable the students to receive graduation certificates which declare them eligible for work opportunities. CPUT Vice-Chancellor Dr Chris Nhlapo says he is encouraged by the Fund’s willingness to assist needy students.

“A donation of this magnitude makes a huge difference to the lives of the 106 students who are now able to enter the world of work armed with their qualifications. This donation bolsters our Vision 2030 ambitions which aim to advance our fundraising and brand building efforts,” says Dr Nhlapho.

Howard Arrand, Chairman of the FNB Fund says education is one of the key focus areas for the FNB Fund, from Early Childhood Development to tertiary education.  

“We believe that empowering young minds with skills is essential to creating a knowledge-based economy and shaping future leaders,” he says.

“Our motivation to play a meaningful role in our developing economy has contributed to growing the number of students that graduate from higher learning institutions in South Africa and
we are immensely proud of the achievement of these students.”

Written by Lauren Kansley
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