The Centre for Continuing Education (CCE) is putting into practice one of CPUT’s core values, responsiveness, by adding four more programmes to its curriculum this year.
Supply Chain Management, Personal Money Management, Basic Script Writing and Public Relations (PR) Writing / Media Crisis are the titles of the new offerings.
In total, CCE now offers 47 programmes. As part of being responsive, the unit saw the need to improve and add more programmes to its curriculum.
Mike Du Plessis, Director of the CCE, said: “As responsiveness is one of our institution’s values, we seek to improve our programmes in order to serve our communities better.”
“Supply Chain Management has become a buzzword in the industry as employees can’t be good at one process, but have got to have synergy on all the functions required to successfully service the market,” said Du Plessis.
Personal Money Management is a self-improvement course and is designed to empower people to become responsible with their own finances.
Du Plessis said it is often assumed that people are able to take care of their money, but that it has been proven that financial stress can be one of the worst problems people experience. He said that the best solution is for people to empower themselves
The PR Writing / Media Crisis programme will focus on how companies should deal with the media, should something that has the potential to jeopardise the company’s brand strike.
“When an emergency crisis strikes, the company’s reputation and image are at risk. During this time, what matters is what people think. PR people need to be taught how to deal with such situations,” he said.
The Basic Script Writing programme is designed for artists who are already in the industry and who want to improve their writing.
CCE also offers tailor-made courses to corporate clients.
Most short courses run for a period of between six to fourteen weeks, and there are also five-month courses. However, the Business Development Programme (BDP) and Credit Management are exceptions.
The BDP, which is a year-long programme, has a new curriculum with effect from 2010, in order to align it with one of the institution’s formal programmes; ND: Management.
According to Lucy Smith, BDP Coordinator and Office Manager at the Bellville office, the course is like a stepping stone.
Even though the course’s duration is one year, it gives students access to the third and final level of ND: Management once they have completed the programme.
She said: “We have students who started with us who are currently doing PhD and Masters Degrees.”
Only students with relevant work experience of more than five years and who never got an opportunity to study at a higher education institution are accepted on the course.
The Credit Management programme is sequential as it has three levels of advancement. Students are required to do three levels of study in order to hold a qualification.
CCE is also recognised by one of the credit rating companies, TransUnion. Each year, TransUnion issues a bursary to a promising student to study for two semesters.
Nomakwezi Cele, Office Manager at CCE’s Cape Town campus and Promotions Coordinator, said: “The Credit Management programme is in demand considering the National Credit Act that is currently in place in our country. We have so many people registering for the programme and that tells us that we are relevant.”
CCE holds a Certificate Awards Ceremony twice a year for the Credit Management Programme, in which about 120 students receive qualifications.
By Andiswa Dantile
Written by CPUT News
Email:
