Civic Engagement Unit

Introduction to Civic Engagement

The concept of civic engagement at CPUT encompasses voluntary and community-based activities that operate independently of the learning outcomes of academic programmes. As these activities are NOT integrated into the mainstream curriculum students are not awarded marks for their participation. This makes these activities different from service-learning.

Role of the Civic Engagement Unit

The main role of the Civic Engagement Unit is to provide a holistic institutional picture of non-curricular community-based activities carried out by both staff and students of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The unit also provides support for the initiation of

• non-curricular activities by students through facilitating partnerships with NGOs,
• departments, the private sector and communities.

Benefits

Civic engagement provides non-curricular opportunities for administrative staff, student societies/clubs and academic staff and allows them to contribute to socio-economic development through a wide range of activities. It prepares students for good citizenship by raising awareness of the need for social responsibility and commitment to building South Africa’s future economically, politically and socially.

Civic engagement aims at developing students and staff with the following attributes:

With these attributes, civic engagement aims at capital development that includes a combination of human, entrepreneurial and social capital.

Students in Civic Engagement Programme (SICEP)

The Students In Civic Engagement Programme (SICEP) is a new student-driven chapter on community outreach.  The launch of the programme on the 18th of July 2012 coincides with international student volunteers visiting CPUT from Tulane University, New Orleans and will craft a new pathway on international collaboration on social justice, health issues, the HIV and Aids pandemic and education within the diaspora.  SICEP has been working tirelessly to craft a new pathway of active citizenship over the last few months and have recruited students to be actively involved in community development as volunteers.

Some of the SICEP projects already underway are listed below.

Registration forms