Business Faculty strengthens international ties

CPUT’s longest-standing partnership with an overseas university was bolstered recently when the Business faculty welcomed three Belgian academics and a group of around 30 students from Katholieke Hogeschole (KAHO) Sint-Lieven. A college university in Flanders, Belgium, KAHO Sint-Lieven has been fostering international exchanges for students and academic staff with the Faculty for over twelve years.

The week-long visit allowed both institutions to explore ways to move their partnership forward in the fields of student and staff exchanges, and research and work placements for in-service training.

The three KAHO Sint-Lieven representatives, International exchange co-ordinator Dirk Trachet; Head of Department (HOD) for Business Management Ellen Pierreux and Office Management HOD Leo Jansegers, were hosted by the joint Acting-Deans of the Business Faculty, Ivan van der Heever and Schalk van der Merwe.

The Belgians were immersed in the daily operations and classroom environment to get a feel for the faculty’s academic environment. They also visited student residences and were introduced to work placement organisations, and local government and industry representatives used for conducting experiential learning that could result in further partnerships.

Visiting: The visiting Belgian academics from KAHO Sint-Lieven (from left) Leo Jansegers, Ellen Pierreux and Dirk Trachet with the faculty's International Exchanges Co-ordinator Dianne Bell, who co-ordinated their programme.

Jansegers shared his thoughts on the experience, saying: “It has been interesting to learn about our cultural differences and see some similarities in our academic modeling. We needed to come to this environment to broaden our minds if we wish to expand our collaboration beyond the Business faculty.”

“I was pleasantly surprised by the level of professionalism the academic staff had and how high the quality of their work is”, said Pierreux.

The Faculty’s International Exchanges Co-ordinator Dianne Bell agreed that the visit was a fruitful exercise: “In each of the fields which the Belgian academics represented, we have been able to identify development areas and list possible actions that we can follow up on in the near future”, she commented.

In the week preceding the Belgians’ visit, the Faculty hosted a formal welcome luncheon at the Granger Bay campus for two new visiting academics from Germany, Professor Alexander Schmidt (Anhalt University) and Prof Uwe Lammel (Wismar University), along with a group of around thirty students from across Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. The academics and students will stay for varying periods ranging from one term to a full academic year, with most students living in the new student residence, City’s Edge.

By: Thando J. Moiloa        

Written by CPUT News
Email: news@cput.ac.za