At least 40 community leaders from the Western Cape recently became the latest beneficiaries of a service learning project, offered by the Department of Horticultural Sciences.

The Department received the community leaders on 23 September 2009 at the institution’s nursery on the Cape Town campus, where they were trained by Horticulture students in various horticultural techniques.

The project targets various communities from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. Most importantly, it trains leaders who are involved in community development.

According to Dr Michael Young, head of the Department of Horticultural Sciences, they have been running the project for several years and their aim is to train trainers who will go and plough back into their communities.

The Department works with communities that are involved in soup kitchens and related projects. The objective is to help these projects to become self-sustaining and for example, to never run out of vegetables.

The Department also works with schools, health centres and crèches from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Dr Young said: “Our main aim in this project is for these leaders to learn good gardening practices through interaction with our students. By doing this we believe we are playing our role towards poverty alleviation.”

So far, the project has attracted people as far as Grabouw.

The project does not just help feed the communities, but has also created jobs in certain communities.

“There are now entrepreneurs who earn a living through what our students are teaching communities,” said Dr Young.

Citing the community of Belhar as an example, Dr Young said community leaders from Belhar have grown tremendously and have also managed to run businesses out of what they learnt.

The Department issues start-up kits to all the attendees to give them an opportunity to start their own projects.

The institution’s Service Learning Unit, together with the Department of Horticultural Sciences, has assigned representatives to visit various communities and identify those who are in need. These communities later benefit from the service learning project.

Lucienne de Villiers, a Horticulture and Landscape Technology lecturer, said: “The service learning project is a wonderful initiative as it benefits the communities, staff and students.

“Also, this is unique for students. There’s a lot of learning on their side.”

Applied Sciences’ Faculty Dean, Prof Olalekan Fatoki, also visited the nursery while students were embarking on the skills transfer project.

“We went to visit the nursery with our Dean, Prof Fatoki, and he was extremely moved by the way our students interacted with the community leaders. He was visibly impressed by the initiative,” Dr Young concluded.

By Andiswa Dantile

Written by CPUT News
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CPUT hosts the annual U6 Conference on the District Six Campus this week.

Themed Research, Innovation & Technology for African Development, the U6 Conference takes place from 4 September to 6 September in Cape Town.

The U6 consortium is a collaboration between founding members CPUT; Jaramogi Oginga University of Science and Technology (formerly Bondo University College), Kenya; Kwara State University, Nigeria; The University of The Gambia; University of Cape Coast, Ghana; and University of Ilorin, Nigeria.

The consortium was launched in 2012 at the University of Ilorin in Ilorin, Nigeria and was established to foster academic linkages and educational collaboration among the six universities.

CPUT Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science Prof Olalekan Fatoki says the consortium has actually grown to encompass eight institutions since it was launched, but the name has stayed U6 to reflect the founding universities. The most recent two new universities to join the consortium are University of Calabar, Nigeria and University of Eldoret, Kenya.

Agriculture & Food Security is a big theme coming through in the papers being delivered at the conference as is Climate Change/Environmental Issues.

Keynote speakers are aquatic ecologist Dr Gertie Arts, based at Alterra, a knowledge institute in the Netherlands which forms part of the Wageningen University and Research Centre; Prof Thandi Mgwebi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Engagement at Tshwane University of Technology; and Dr R Krishnamurthy, director of the CG Bhakta Institute of Biotechnology and Dean of the Faculty of Science at Uka Tarsadia University, Bardoli, Gujarat, India.

The U6 Conference opens today (4 September) with an address by CPUT Vice-Chancellor Dr Chris Nhlapo who will welcome the attending Vice-Chancellors of five African universities.

Written by Theresa Smith
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This year’s conference is themed Research, Innovation & Technology for African Development. 

The U6 consortium is a collaboration of six universities: CPUT; Jaramogi Oginga University of Science and Technology (formerly Bondo University College), Kenya; Kwara State University, Nigeria; The University of The Gambia; University of Cape Coast, Ghana; and University of Ilorin, Nigeria.

The consortium was launched in 2012 at the University of Ilorin in Ilorin, Nigeria and was established to foster academic linkages and educational collaboration among the six universities.
Dean of Applied Sciences Prof Olalekan Fatoki says the consortium has actually grown to encompass eight institutions since it was launched, but the name has stayed U6 to reflect the founding universities.

The two new universities to join the consortium are University of Calabar, Nigeria and University of Eldoret, Kenya.

“There have always been bilateral relationships between the universities, like Nigeria with Ghana, or South Africa with Nigeria. We realised that in many instances they had the same collaborations and conferences and that there was more strength in a collaboration between all the universities than just two at a time,” Fatoki explained.

He is the chairman of the international organising committee of the U6 Conference and his faculty will be instrumental in organising the conference, which will be held on the District Six Campus from September 4 to 6.

The local organising committee of the U6 Conference has put out a call for the submission of abstracts in any of the following thematic areas:
Climate Change/ Environmental Issues (Oceans Economy/ Blue Economy, Water & Sanitation, Energy Efficiency & Sustainability)

• Global Health and Wellness
• Agriculture & Food Security
• ICT, Tourism, Business & Governance
• Gender, Social Issues and Education for Sustainable Development

Fatoki said they hope scientists who specialise in ICT, social science or the humanities, engineers and health practitioners all consider submitting an abstract for consideration.

“Anyone with an interest in those fields should consider applying. This will be a multidisciplinary conference,” he explained.

Abstract submission deadline is June 15. Check the conference website for the abstract submission page.

Written by Theresa Smith
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CPUT will host the next annual U6 Conference in September this year.

This year’s conference is themed Research, Innovation & Technology for African Development.

The U6 consortium is a collaboration of six universities: CPUT; Jaramogi Oginga University of Science and Technology (formerly Bondo University College), Kenya; Kwara State University, Nigeria; The University of The Gambia; University of Cape Coast, Ghana; and University of Ilorin, Nigeria.

The consortium was launched in 2012 at the University of Ilorin in Ilorin, Nigeria and was established to foster academic linkages and educational collaboration among the six universities.
Dean of Applied Sciences Prof Olalekan Fatoki says the consortium has actually grown to encompass eight institutions since it was launched, but the name has stayed U6 to reflect the founding universities.

The two new universities to join the consortium are University of Calabar, Nigeria and University of Eldoret, Kenya.

“There have always been bilateral relationships between the universities, like Nigeria with Ghana, or South Africa with Nigeria. We realised that in many instances they had the same collaborations and conferences and that there was more strength in a collaboration between all the universities than just two at a time,” Fatoki explained.

He is the chairman of the international organising committee of the U6 Conference and his faculty will be instrumental in organising the conference, which will be held on the District Six Campus from September 4 to 6.

The local organising committee of the U6 Conference has put out a call for the submission of abstracts in any of the following thematic areas:
Climate Change/ Environmental Issues (Oceans Economy/ Blue Economy, Water & Sanitation, Energy Efficiency & Sustainability)

• Global Health and Wellness
• Agriculture & Food Security
• ICT, Tourism, Business & Governance
• Gender, Social Issues and Education for Sustainable Development

Fatoki said they hope scientists who specialise in ICT, social science or the humanities, engineers and health practitioners all consider submitting an abstract for consideration.

“Anyone with an interest in those fields should consider applying. This will be a multidisciplinary conference,” he explained.

Abstract submission deadline is June 15. Check the conference website for the abstract submission page.

Written by Theresa Smith
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.