Call Centre Extended Hours To assist our students during this peak admissions and registration period, the CPUT Call Centre will offer extended operating hours from 14 January until 27 February 2025. 7:30am - 7pm from Monday to Thursday.

 

Beware Fake Mails and Scammers Beware Fake Mails and Scammers. If not sure, please call CPUT Call Centre at 021 959 6767

News

The Community Engagement Student Academy (CESA) project team, called the Community Connectors, recently visited the Siyafunda community library, which is based in a garage in Lavender Hill.

The academy affords student groups the opportunity to design their own programme and activities when engaging their targeted community organisation. These projects are aligned to Vision 2030 and the building of partnerships within society.

Apart from the Siyafunda community library, John and Gail Nicholson also started a feeding scheme about 15 years ago to help address the needs of the youth in the community.

The excitement amongst the Community Connectors was evident as they prepared their activities for the engagement with the learners from the community.

Jacqui Scheepers, Manager: Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Units, Centre for Community Engagement and WIL said: “What impressed me was that the students made time to research and rehearse their stories, develop quizzes, and even make their own props for the enactment of their stories. I continue to be inspired by communities who remain hopeful despite their numerous socio-economic challenges.

“Investing in the development of young minds will contribute to the upliftment of our communities and brings hope and support to organisations dedicated to serving others”.

Students interacted with the Lavender Hill learners who frequent the Siyafunda community library. Activities included storytelling, drama and plays outlining the importance of literacy and expanding knowledge through reading. During the session, learners were extremely engaged and displayed an eagerness to learn. “The Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Unit must also commend the continued support from the internal CPUT Library services department for the collection and donation of books to the community library. This is an ongoing collaboration which will expand the footprint of the university”.

David Haarhoff, who is currently assisting the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Unit, stated: “The concept of bend the tree whilst it is still young, stands out for me. The children within the Lavender Hill community are exposed to various forms of life challenges including poverty, gangsterism, drugs, abuse and so much more. As a University, we have an obligation from a corporate social responsibility point of view, to bring hope to these challenging situations.

“We want to inspire the children to rise above their circumstances and to believe that they can have a successful life. The circumstances that they are currently exposed to do not have to be a norm or be a way of life. Our goal is to go about our work and plant a seed wherever we go. I am very proud of our student group for the excellent execution of this project.”

Community Engagement Academy Alumni and CESA student assistant, Sydney Hlongwane, a fourth-year Advanced Diploma in Project Management student, said: “Saturday’s project was great. We performed fun skits, distributed books and spent time with awesome kids. I was impressed by their curiosity and smart questions. They were so engaged and eager to learn. It made me happy to see them smile and have fun. These kids are so smart and talented. They are going to do great things in the future”.

Scheepers concluded: “The Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Unit will continually strive to make a positive impact in communities through the dedication and passion of CESA leaders and alumni”.

In an effort to promote sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics and innovation, the STEM Club offered students a platform to exhibit their best research projects to the CPUT community.

This year's category winners are Mzameli Mashiyi, who is developing an African language speech recognition AI (Technology) and Nomava Mgidi, who is addressing unemployment through fashion design (Social Science).

This was part of the annual STEM Expo Competition at SARETEC as part of the National Science Week, where students were given opportunities to upscale their research projects via the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) for possible commercialisation. During this year's Expo Competition, the STEM Club worked closely with the Community Engagement (CE) and Work Integrated Learning (WIL) units. The neighbouring high school learners were also invited to be part of the programme and to view the exhibitions. CE and WIL also conducted a workshop with the learners.

The guest speakers included Jacqueline Scheepers: Manager: Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Unit, Dr Xena Cupido: Fundani CHED director, Dr Mark Jacobs: Maths lecturer, Dr Gillian Arendse: Nuclear Physicist for iThemba Labs), and Ntokozo Mashaba: last year's winner. Dr Frikkie George, who is also CPUT STEM Support Lead, said the lively and animated talk of Dr Arendse “gapped the interest of the attendees”.

George, who also coordinated the event, said they witnessed fewer exhibitors this year but “the quality of the projects was impressive”.

However, the STEM Expo Competition was well attended. “We explore the possibility of accessing funding for the winners to up-scale their projects for commercialisation. This event showcases the CPUT STEM Club's members' research projects, and it may contribute to their academic performance.”

George, who is also the acting Head of Department: Fundani STARS Unit, continued: “This STEM Expo competition will advance the STEM awareness at CPUT and showcase students' research projects in the different departments.”

Mandela Day not only honours the former stateman’s life and achievements but also inspires individuals and communities globally to devote their time and efforts to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

As the heavy rain and gusty winds continued to batter the Western Cape on this day, the staff and students were excited to engage in a meaningful act of kindness that brought joy to children in low-resourced local schools such as Balvenie Primary School, Astra Special Education School, as well as The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children.

Led by the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement (SLCE) Unit, the Community Engagement Student Academy (CESA) project group, known as The Community Connectors, groups of staff members and students visited the classrooms at these venues and read stories to the learners. The teams also delivered an entertaining programme that included the performance of a children’s story, a quiz and other interactive activities.

SLCE Manager, Jacqui Scheepers emphasised the importance of institutional projects that express the Ubuntu philosophy through action within the communities around CPUT. “The support, teamwork, good spirits, and camaraderie displayed by staff and students from across the institution and various campuses was evidence of what could be achieved in communities when there is unity and purpose,” said Scheepers.

She also quoted Tata Madiba who said: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” Scheepers said this was displayed by the CPUT community who visited three community sites to engage in activities with school learners to celebrate the legacy of Tata Madiba and express the spirit of Ubuntu as part of CPUT’s Vision 2030.

CPUT Libraries has coordinated the drop-off sites of reading materials at all campus libraries which were donated by staff and students. Scheepers said the donation of new/pre-owned books and reading materials of all genres children’s books, CDs, magazines and many more) “contributes to the educational development of our communities”, adding that reusing pre-owned reading materials is also environmentally responsible as it reduces waste.

Scheepers stated that the Balvenie Primary School Library is a long-term project site for SLCE interdisciplinary projects in conjunction with Architectural Technology, Construction Management and Quantity Surveying, Interior Design, Mechanical Engineering, and Graphic Design departments. Industry and service-learning partner, Nadeson Consulting staff members joined CPUT at Balvenie Primary and handed over books, a laptop, and a printer to the library. They also raised R5,000.00 through crowdfunding for the library.

The school principal, Farieda Wakefield expressed her gratitude to CPUT and Nadeson Consulting for their kind donations and for engaging with their learners.

Wakefield said: “It's such a joy to see people come on board to invest in our community. One of our mottos at our school is always: This can be Elsie's River, but we don’t need to be like Elsie's River … One of our challenges is getting people on board to come and invest in our school… So the fact that CPUT and Nadeson Consulting came on board to have a library, I must say thank you very much to CPUT and other role players who after so many years want to see this project through…Thank you very much for whatever you're giving to the school, small or big it doesn’t matter what it is, we are just happy that at the end of the day, we will have a library to at least see what we can do to enhance the academic performance of our learners.” She added that the school needed more interventions to improve the dire situation at the school.

Regina Sikhosana, Branch Manager, Bellville Campus, brightened the room when she mentioned the available assistance from the library and said: “So we are going to adopt you until you graduate”.

In The Saartjie Centre for Women and Children's new therapeutic library, the Community Connectors and library staff sorted out the books, packed the bookshelves, and then engaged with the learners. Miriam Fredericks said: “Your support is instrumental in our ability to continue to provide essential, life-changing services to survivors of domestic violence and their children.”

The SLCE unit have undertaken to conduct a life skills programme with the hostel learners at Astra Special Education School in the future.

Scheepers also conveyed “a special thank you” to all the stakeholders, staff and students for their participation.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce and CPUT News

Many individuals perceive pool as just a recreational game – something one plays at a bar or in the man cave. However, to members of CPUT’s supa-pool teams, it’s more than just leisure. It’s a competitive sport where they can test their skills against opponents from other universities nationwide.

CPUT supa-pool men’s team recently took first place overall in the 2024 USSA National Institutional Supa-Pool Championships. CPUT recently hosted the 2024 USSA Supa-pool Championships at the Western Cape Ultimate Pool Centre, Bellville.

Sport Development Officer, Quinton Summers, who was the chairperson of the Local Organising Committee, said the venue was “a positive new addition to this event”. “Hosting the event off-campus at a community venue meant that USSA supa-pool was exposed to the community more than it would have been.”

There were six participating universities: CPUT, Sefako Makgatho University, the University of the Western Cape (UWC), the University of Limpopo, Rhodes University, and the University of Fort Hare, and each university brought two men’s teams and a female team for the five-day tournament. Summers said: “The competition was exciting, on each day the excitement in the venue could be felt.” The men’s team won the men’s section by beating UWC in the final. Unfortunately, the ladies did not make the knock-out stages but one of CPUT's players, Perseverance Mashilo was the best women’s player of the tournament.

Even though Perseverance did not make it to the knockout stages her scores in the round-robin part of the event were the best. This earned her the award. The CPUT Supa-Pool team Manager, Ricardo Geduld, and Coach, Beauren Simon worked tirelessly behind the scenes to earn the team the success and the respect they deserve at the USSA level.

The overall Women's Individual winner – Shanice Van Vuuren (UWC), made the knockout stages and won the final. Summers clarified that the scores in the knockout stages don't impact the points scored leading up to that stage of the tournament. The UWC was the winner of the women’s section. The Player of the Tournament, (men) was Kevin Martin, meanwhile, the overall team of the tournament was the University of Limpopo.

Many of CPUT’s top students come from important feeder schools, especially in the Western and Eastern Cape, that produce quality students who easily adjust to the academic demands at the Institution.

As such, the Office of the Vice-Chancellor recently hosted a breakfast engagement with high school principals and community leaders from the feeder schools. The event was held at the Bellville Campus. This annual event is one of Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chris Nhlapo’s initiatives aimed at strengthening relationships with “our stakeholders” and facilitating dialogues to identify areas of support and collaboration.

It was attended by the Western Cape Education Department Council, high school principals and community leaders. The event was a resounding success that brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, and the discussions were lively, coupled with meaningful connections for mutual benefit.

In her opening address, Prof Henriette Hay-Swemmer, Executive Director: Office of the Vice-Chancellor, said: “I am so excited to see that community, university, the Western Cape Education Department chair and deputy chair are here because we also want to share with our story and our passion, particularly in making a difference in our surrounding schools. And more importantly, specifically, in terms of STEM [ Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics]. We are all very concerned…The fact that our children do not want to take maths and we must turn this around. It’s very often, a small group of people that come together like us that can say enough is enough. We must turn the point.”

In his keynote address, Nhlapo said there was a looming teacher crisis especially with regard to teachers in Maths and Science. “We want to produce engineers…So the dream is to make sure that we can actually have the STEM institute and help all the students at this region of the country. We have had a number of interventions across the Peninsula and outside the province.”

The guests were also taken on a tour of the Clothing and Textile Technology labs and Food Technology Station.

The Cooperative Education Unit, Centre for Community Engagement recently hosted a Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Indaba at the Cape Town Hotel School.

Prof Lalini Reddy, Director for Community Engagement and WIL, welcomed the CPUT industry partners and articulated the urgency for continued partnership in relation to work-integrated learning. Reddy re-iterated the impact of work-integrated learning and the benefits thereof for students and their development.

The target audience for this event were industry partners who play an integral role in hosting the students for their WIL component requirement. The partners who attended this event are well represented across all six faculties. David Haarhoff, project lead, indicated that: “Initiatives of this nature are imperative for connectiveness between organisations and our University. Organisations invest a substantial amount of money and time in the development of our students and that is commendable.” The attendees showed tremendous interest and were very engaging.

The purpose of the engagement was to embark on meaningful engagement in terms of challenges, highlights and how to strengthen partnerships between key stakeholders for the greater good of work-integrated learning.

Haarhoff said the industry partners expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to engage in such a manner, saying everything was well organised. He added that the meeting with different industry partners and WIL Coordinators worked well for this event.

“The Centre envisages to embark on many more such initiatives for the greater good of students.”

The Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Units, Centre for Community Engagement and Work Integrated Learning, in collaboration with the Faculty of Education, hosted seven students from HAN University of Applied Sciences from the Netherlands.

Twice a year HAN students travel to CPUT and collaborate with various departments under the banner of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. The HAN student student or students currently forms part of the Theewaterskloof Programme with a particular focus on various community engagement projects. Organisations such as Home Based Care, South African Red Cross Society, schools, Theewaterskloof Municipality, museum and Mind over Matter within Theewaterskloof district, benefit from the students’ hard work and dedication. HAN students reside in the rural towns of Grabouw and Caledon for the duration of the project.

An orientation weekend funded by HAN university was held in August. Seven CPUT students from the faculties of Health and Wellness Sciences, Business and Management Sciences, Education, Engineering and the Built Environment and Informatics and Design were afforded the opportunity to engage with the HAN students at the orientation. “Our first activity was to collaborate and do Intercultural consciousness and cross-cultural communication. We shared info about the various cultures in South Africa and the HAN students shared information about the Dutch culture. There were discussions and debates involved because we had to gather information about the Dutch culture, and they had to do the same with the South African culture. After the collaboration we had to do some outdoor activities as a competition in mixed groups of CPUT and HAN students,” said Nursing Science student, Yandisa Maqetuka.

Extramural activities included a hike which allowed students to engage across international cultures in a more informal setting. Yandisa said: “I had a great experience in the HAN project, and I am grateful for the opportunity that was given to me.” HAN Global mobility has become increasingly imperative for student self-development, intercultural integration and development of international leaders. CPUT students were grateful for the opportunity to engage with the HAN students.

At the CPUT intercultural and international engagement session at the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre, CPUT afforded the HAN students a space to showcase their respective community projects. The passion exuded during the presentations displayed a sense of commitment and seriousness in respect of global citizenship. During the presentations HAN students provided a detailed report of their respective projects, expressed their challenges, opportunities and possible solutions to various issues experienced within communities.

According to Jacqui Scheepers, Manager: Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, “Internationalisation can be achieved through collaborative community engagement activities with students and staff from various international partner universities. This project serves as an opportunity to achieve our institutional goals as per our Vision 2030 for Focus areas: 5: SMART Internationalisation; 6: SMART Engagement and strong links with quintuple helix partners; and 7: SMART Student Engagement and Learning Experience.”

David Haarhoff, Project lead for Civic Engagement alluded to the importance of student involvement in such critical engagements. “Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chris Nhlapo, often makes reference to CPUT becoming Africa’s MIT. This would require a different level of thinking, continued international exposure not only for academics, but for students as well. My heart is happy when our students integrate and present our university when hosting international guests. Our students really made me proud.” Scheepers said that projects like these put CPUT on a global platform and: “We will continue to explore further collaborations with international partners for community engagement”.

Page 1 of 19