The Institutional Language Unit at Fundani CHED recently celebrated International Translation Day to reinforce and recognise the imperative effort made by language experts of different languages in different organisations, private as well as government.

The event's purpose was to highlight the universities' ongoing work in promoting indigenous African languages through translation and interpretation services. It was also an opportunity to share insights and collaborate on how universities can further enhance these efforts to foster multilingualism in the Western Cape and beyond.

Various speakers on the platform elaborated on the importance of translations and their challenges. In his opening address, Dr Ignatius Ticha, Faculty of Applied Sciences Language Coordinator said: “Today, we celebrate not only the invaluable work of translators and interpreters worldwide but also the critical role that translation plays in promoting multilingualism and preserving the diverse linguistic heritage of our institutions.”

Ticha, a CPUT Language Group member, welcomed guests from the University of Cape Town (UCT), Stellenbosch University (SU), the University of the Western Cape (UWC), and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB)).

“Your presence here signals our shared commitment to advancing the use of indigenous African languages in higher education and society at large.

He commended PanSALB for always being at the forefront of the movement to promote and “preserve the richness of South Africa’s languages, particularly Indigenous African languages”.

Delegates from each institution present were given an opportunity to present the work done by their respective institutions to promote African languages through translation services, interpreting, and terminology development in fostering multilingualism.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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The world renowned Golden Key International Honour Society is due to be launched at CPUT in the third quarter of 2009.
The CPUT chapter will acknowledge and reward academic excellence among the top 15%of the university’s BTech and postgraduate students.

Golden Key, founded in the USA over 30 years, is one of the world’s largest academic honour societies. CPUT is the country’s first University of Technology to join this prestigious group.

Membership of the Society is by invitation only. The Society includes students in all fields of study and is based solely on an objective evaluation of the students’ academic achievements, with the primary goal being to enable members to realise their potential. The initiative is being co-ordinated by Transformation Manager Sam Henkeman and Alumni Officer Nandipha Madadasana, who will act as the University’s Golden Key chapter advisors.

In preparation for the launch, a preliminary information session was held on Cape Town Campus on 26 May 2009 in order to inform shortlisted students about the benefits of accepting the invitation to the Society.

After being welcomed by Madadasana, the students were addressed by Golden Key South Africa’s Johannesburg-based Director Charlene Günter, who explained the purpose of the Society and answered student questions. Henkeman closed the session and the Dean of Students gave thanks to those who had attended.

The Golden Key initiative forms part of a bigger student driven project being developed, which is aimed at creating a sense of belonging, unity and developing a common identity among members of the CPUT community.

To date, the Golden Key Society has over 370 chapters at colleges and universities in seven countries including the USA, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and United Arab Emirates.

In South Africa there are chapters at the University of Cape Town , Stellenbosch University , University of the Free-State, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University , Rhodes University , University of Pretoria , University of Johannesburg and the University of the Witwatersrand .

Governed by an international Board of Directors, the Society offers more than $500,000 annually in scholarships and awards to its members, along with a variety of other opportunities, both in the academic and career fields.

A number of Golden Key chapters are involved in a wide variety of volunteer projects in their local communities such as Habitat for Humanity, Terry Fox Run, Make a Difference Day and various literacy service opportunities.

The Society’s membership stretches beyond academic recognition. Some of the offered benefits include graduate career assistance, scholarships, an online career centre, as well as leadership, community service and networking opportunities.

Golden Key South Africa is also an institutional member of the International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) and an affiliate member of the South African Graduate Recruiters Association (SAGRA).

By Thando J. Moiloa

Photo: Attending the Golden Key preliminary information session, along with the shortlisted student achievers, were (third from left to sixth from left) Alumni Officer Nandipha Madadasana, Transformation Manager Samuel Henkeman, Charlene Günter of the Golden Key International Honour Society and Dean of Students Cora Njoli-Motale.

Written by CPUT News
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Head of the HIV/Aids Unit, Dr Ashraf Mohammed, was recently awarded a doctorate in Public Health from the University of Cape Town.

Dr Mohammed, who holds degrees in Microbiology and Medical Science, conducted research on the prevention of Tuberculosis (TB) in advanced HIV-infected patients. This study, which was partially funded by the prestigious Diana Princess of Wales HIV Research Foundation, is one of seven studies of its kind to be conducted in the world.

As a result, the findings of this significant study will be used by several international health organisations (WHO/CDC) in order to undertake a meta-analysis study.

The study, which is titled, “The efficiency of intermittent directly observed Isoniazid for preventing tuberculosis in HIV-infected adults with advanced disease,”was undertaken at public hospitals in the Western Cape.

In order to conduct the study, patients were randomly selected from various health facilities in the Western Cape.

“They were then assessed for eligibility for the trial,” said Dr Mohammed.

Those selected for the study were screened for TB and only those that were free from TB were enrolled for the trial and were required to follow a 24 month treatment programme. The treatment programmes were conducted at Tygerberg, Groote Schuur and Somerset Hospitals.

Dr Mohammed said the study took place over several years because patients entered the programme at different times. As a result of the study, Dr Mohammed devised a TB screening instrument.

Through this method, they detected several undiagnosed TB cases (8.5%) in patients who were referred by clinicians as being free from TB. This TB screening instrument for patients with advanced HIV infection in a hospital setting has now been incorporated into the South African National TB Policy Guidelines. Dr Mohammed said he plans to further research in this area.

“I want to extend the study and develop it into a research niche at CPUT,” he said.

Dr Mohammed has already published widely in peer-reviewed journals and also presented his research at several international conferences. Prior to his graduation he had already published two articles in international peer-reviewed journals and is currently drafting a third paper for publication.

He was also awarded the Foggarty Fellowship, which allowed him to complete various aspects of his doctorate at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York.

He was also a recipient of the Guy Elliot Medical Research Fellowship. Dr Mohammed is currently supervising 5 postgraduate students, 2 of which are medical doctors,

Written by CPUT News
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As CPUT celebrates the coming launch of Golden Key, the institution recognises one of its own who has recently achieved membership status.

Dr Ashraf Mohammed, Head of Department for the HIV/AIDS Unit, completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Cape Town where he developed his profile in the medical field.

His doctoral thesis focused on the aspects of a tuberculosis (TB) screening test developed, which was subsequently included in the national guideline to HIV-positive patients.

Prior to graduating with his qualification, Dr Mohammed published several papers for peer review and submitted data to global medical bodies such as the Centre for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation to be included in their meta-analysis studies.

As a result of these fine academic achievements, he was invited to become a member of the Society earlier this year.

Written by CPUT News
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Marketing students were recently treated to a full day of inspiring networking sessions by renowned industry pioneers in a series of workshops.

The workshops were organized by the CPUT Marketing Society as its highlight event for this year and were attended by students from CPUT, the University of Cape Town and the University of Western Cape.

The aim of the event was to create familiarity around the process of campaign development from strategy to creativity.

The theme was “Out of the Box” as the Marketing Society believes that when marketers start thinking out of the box, magical things happen.

The pioneers created an understanding of how strategy is turned into creative output through the campaigns and the advertisements we see around us.

These included digital content such as art direction and online public relations management.

The experts also presented a holistic insight into industry trends, branding communications and creative strategy as well as how everything is all connected.

The keynote speakers were Scott Grey, Head of Innovation at Quirk and Ross Chowles, Executive Creative Director at The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town).

Chowles, Di Charton, Managing Director at Red and Yellow School of Advertising, and Denver Jacob, Managing Director and Founder of ForståCreative Interactive Agency, later ran exciting and informative workshops for the students.

Formed in 2013 to support marketing students at CPUT to gain access to career opportunities in the industry, the society uses a combination of workshops and mentoring relationships to expose students to a variety of industry networks.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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CPUT hosted an Inter-institutional Extended Curriculum Programmes (ECPs) Symposium at the Granger Bay Hotel School.

The regional conference of Innovative Pedagogical Practices in ECPs saw delegates from all four universities in the Western Cape sharing best practices in teaching ECP students and addressing their academic challenges.

Access to ways of doing and thinking in disciplines has been an ongoing focus in the Department of Extended Curriculum at CPUT, but this year it wished to also highlight the more emotive and social barriers, which first year students may experience as well.

Delivering the symposium’s keynote address, Professor Jenni Case from the Centre for Research in Engineering Education at the University of Cape Town (UCT), addressed academic development in the mainstream by presenting a case study in UCT’s Department of Chemical Engineering.

The study found a demonstration of possible structural shifts in a mainstream undergraduate programme. She asked whether the co-option of industry ideas into the curriculum will be initially enabling however, ultimately, limiting in the broader sense of transformation.

CPUT lecturers Julian Hopley and Alex Noble discussed how a course in visual literacy was developed for foundation Architecture and Interior Design students.

 They said that the development of the course took into cognizance the background information about foundation students, namely, no previous art training nor 3D perception skills and poor mathematical skills.

Papers and discussions presented during the conference fell under a variety of themes, including the following:

Innovative uses of IT
Student personal development
Attitudes and emotions in learning
Innovative teaching methods
Curriculum design
Foundation structures and systems

Written by CPUT News
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The thorny topic of decolonising university curricula was tackled head-on during the annual Language Indaba this week.

Hosted by the Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development’s Language Unit this year participants explored the topic of Decolonising the Language Curriculum.

Delegates at the Indaba included discipline specialists, curriculum officers, language specialists, academics and researchers and students in relevant fields.

Delivering the keynote address, University of Cape Town’s Prof Carolyn McKinney cited examples of how colonialism in education negatively impacts the linguistic resources of African people.

McKinney questioned whether parents of English and Afrikaans – speaking children would allow their children to learn everything from Grade 4 onwards in isiXhosa as their Xhosa counterparts are compelled to learn in English.

She discussed various dominant language ideologies before offering the audience de-colonial approaches to language teaching.

She suggested multilingual class discussions, group work and learning materials as well as assignments requiring the use of more than one language and group to share resources, among others.

Prof Johannes Cronje, Dean of the Faculty of Informatics and Design at CPUT, discussed his approach to teaching and learning in communication which allows students to interact with each other and himself, uses Dashboard and other online forms of learning as well as innovative assessment methods.

Jabar Mohammed, DeafSA’s Western Cape director, explained the role of DeafSA and the challenges faced by the South African deaf community as well as what is being done to address them.

CPUT’s Dr Bernadette Millar argued that decolonization is a journey of self-discovery culminating in a reawakening and a re-orientation.

Millar said decolonising the mind involved a radical process of finding the colonial master’s intention and undoing conditioning, normalisation, power and privilege of the white mind. 

Written by Kwanele Butana
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Good batting performance lies in the brain.

This is the results of a study by Cape Town academics, which revealed that cricket batsmen have to clear their minds and focus on important cues from the bowler prior to the cricket ball being released, in order to correctly play the most appropriate stroke.

This study provides the first scientific evidence relating to skilled batting performance with mental preparation measured by brain activity.

The study was conducted by Dr Sharhidd Taliep of the CPUT’s Sport Management Department in collaboration with Dr Lester John of the University of Cape Town’s Medical Imaging Research Unit.

This group of researchers is the first in the world to publish brain-related perceptual research in cricketers.

Taliep, who is the study’s chief investigator, says an electro-encephalographic was used in the study to measure brain activity of skilled and less-skilled cricket batsmen.

He found that the brain is able to shut down irrelevant internal chatter in order to obtain an optimal mental state for batting performance. This irrelevant internal chatter competes for resources of the brain and skilled batsmen are better able to shut it out, allowing more energy to be focused on important processes.

Taliep says this study is the first to show this in reactive sports like cricket and the results could be applied to other reactive sports like baseball, tennis and squash, where it could be used to train and test athletes.

The article will be published in the international journal, Perception, at the end of April under the headline: “Sport Expertise: The role of precise timing of verbal-analytical engagement and the ability to detect visual cues”.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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CPUT's Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE) recently hosted a Public-Private Schooling Symposium where academics debated their views on different schooling systems as well as the benefits and concerns of collaboration schooling.

CITE Director, Prof Yusuf Sayed, said the public-private schooling debate has thus far raised more heat than light and that he hoped the symposium will add light to the debate.

Sayed argued that the answer to the provision of quality education lies with the restructuring of public education.

Dr Christiaan van der Merwe, Chief Executive Officer of Curro Holding Ltd, said great leadership and management, ethos and partnerships as well as accountability and transparency are some of the characteristics of successful schools.

Van der Merwe said that over the last 20 years education has generally improved across all schools.

"Every school should allow a child to be what they want and what they can be," he added.

Dr David Harrison, head of the DG Murray Trust, said distribution of quality education in schools has not changed in the last 20 years.

Harrison added that system-wide improvement is not enough on its own as it widens disparities between successful and underperforming schools.

He called for the strengthening of the existing capacity of public schools and district leadership in underperforming schools.

"Place underperforming public schools under new management."

He also called for the introduction of low fee private schools.

*The following universities collaborated in the organization of the symposium: CPUT, University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, Rhodes University and Fort Hare University.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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Three dedicated nursing students from CPUT’s Western Cape College of Nursing (WCCN) are gaining valuable training and experience in Europe as part of a new international project.

CPUT has teamed up with three European universities of applied science and two South African research universities for the new project, which is focused on the fields of healthcare and welfare.

Called the Caring Society (CASO) 3.0 consortium, the six participating partners have received a grant of more than €800 000 from the European Union’s Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education programme to help them achieve their goals.

CPUT’s WCCN and the institution’s Sport Management Department are participating in the project.

Three nursing students, Shihaam Barnes (Athlone campus), Molefi Dexter Shebi (Southern Cape campus) and Philicia Bloom (Worcester campus), recently departed for Europe, where they will visit Karel de Grote Hogeschool in Antwerp, Belgium and Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.

Lecturer Karien Orton said that among other things the students would attend an interprofessional workshop in Belgium and visit a number of healthcare institutions in the Netherlands and Belgium.

She said that to be selected they had to meet a series of criteria including strong leadership qualities and a good academic record.
Participation in the project allows CPUT and the WCCN to contribute to international knowledge development in healthcare and the community, as well as the internationalisation of students.

The higher education institutions participating in the programme will focus on three pillars, which include the Patient Partner Programme, the Health and Lifestyle Programme and the Care for the Caregiver Programme.

The participating universities are: CPUT, University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, the Finnish Lahti University of Applied Sciences and Karel de Grote Hogeschool.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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A group of CPUT academics are among the authors of a recently released report on digital readiness and using visual methods in Higher Education.

The report offers an overview of the teaching skills needed to face digital readiness during the pandemic, offering details about the pedagogical approach and methodologies to use, focusing on visual methods.

It is based on research from June to December 2021 within FutureAbility - Digital and transversal skills for online teachers, a two-year European-funded project under the Erasmus Plus Strategic Partnership. FutureAbility is a Strategic Partnership of nine organisations.

Assoc Prof Eunice Ivala, Director: Centre for Innovative Educational Technology (CIET), is the project leader representing CPUT. Dr SisandaNkoala, Senior Lecturer in the Media Department, is the project administrator. The other team members are Assoc Prof Candice Livingston, Head of the Department: Research and Postgraduate Studies; Assoc Prof Virimai Mugobo, Head of the Department: Retail Business Management; Rifqah Abrahams, Lecturer in the Media Department; Cheri Hugo, Lecturer in the Department of Design and Eran Tahor, Lecturer in Department of Film. Assoc Prof Daniela Gachago from the University of Cape Town is working on the project as a consultant.

“The project has three phases. The first phase was generating a report on the perspectives and experiences of educators who teach visual communication courses and use visual methods. This was based on a desktop study, focus group discussions and a survey of around 300 participants. The project's second phase, currently underway, is to create open education resources in online courses to address some of the gaps identified in phase one regarding the skills needed to teach online. The third phase, set for 2023, will be to roll out the courses and get participant feedback,” said Nkoala.

She said one of the key findings was that most respondents argued that the key challenges they faced teaching visual communication and using visual methods were a lack of student motivation, various technical problems and digital literacy.

Furthermore, the study found that online teaching exclusively harms courses and research that rely primarily on practices, as with visual communication-based courses. Online education and learning diminish the quality of interactions. As such, blended forms of teaching are foreseen as the most optimal approach in future by many professionals and students.

The project's next phase, which started in February 2022, is to develop courses to address these gaps and upskill lecturers to teach visual arts-related subjects and use visual methods online more effectively.

Nkoala said that in the short term, one of the key outputs from the study would be the development of online, open-access, multilingual courses that educators can take to upskill themselves on how to teach visual arts subjects and other subjects using visual methods in an online context.

The courses are being developed based on a literature review, focus group discussion and surveys with participants across the partner countries.

“The courses are being developed using design thinking principles which CPUT introduced to the partners. In particular, CPUT introduced the learning design through workshops based on our expertise as an institution in learning design. It is envisaged that any university can use the courses to train lecturers in this regard. The great thing about the nature of the courses being developed is that they are not solely for teaching visual arts courses but can also be used in any discipline which uses visual teaching methods,” she said.

Click here to read the report.

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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A medical student who was displaced from her home country of Sudan was recently welcomed to CPUT, ahead of the Ubuntu 2024 Conference.

Sara Idrees, a fourth-year student at the University of Gezira, was on a two-week Student Network Organisation exchange and was hosted by the four local universities, CPUT, the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town.

The four institutions co-hosted the Ubuntu 2024 conference with the Western Cape Department of Health, Rural WONCA and The Network: Towards Unity for Health.

This year’s conference was hosted at UWC from 10 to 13 September and the theme was People, Place and Policy for Community Wellness.

During her stay at CPUT, Sara was hosted by the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences.

She said that after the conflict in Sudan she and her family were displaced and now live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“We are displaced in Riyadh for about seven months now. The first few months was a bit difficult and everything was new.”

Her university opened an external branch in Riyadh and other cities to facilitate the education process for students.

Sara said visiting CPUT “was a beautiful experience” in terms of education and culture.

Dr Lizel Hudson, Work-Integrated Learning and Language Coordinator in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, who hosted Sara, said they went to the small towns of Gouda, Saron and Porterville in the Boland, and the trip included visits to centres in Saron. They also went to the West Coast towns of Vredenburg, Saldanha Bay and Langebaan. Hudson said it was a “rich personal and professional experience, setting the scene for the conference with a very apt theme of People, Place, Policy and Community”.

Hudson said Sara was selected to spend time learning about rural and community health in South African communities, cultural norms and traditions, in addition to their local health systems, beliefs and habits.

She met with community members and patients from three organisations: Community home-based care and a soup kitchen facilitated by the non-profit organisation NorSA and a visit to the elderly at the Badisa, Percy Bilton Centre.

“The West Coast leg of the visit was to Siyabonga Care Village – an emotional trip where tears rolled freely from our eyes. Under the guidance and leadership of Ms Chrisna Du Plessis, this facility gives a whole new meaning to care.

“Documenting these activities in a linear manner seams easy and straightforward, yet the observations and emotions were difficult, uneasy and shook me to the core personally. The people we met, having to operate and deliver services in mostly difficult situations ‘underscored’ by often difficult to understand policies, are true angels!”

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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