Lecturer pays tribute to Vice-chancellor Prestigious Achievers Award

Financial constraints nearly frustrated him out of the doctoral degree programme, “Glory be to the almighty God for an open door of opportunity to be a recipient of Vice-chancellor Prestigious Achievers Award twice”.

Here, Dr Imisioluseyi Julius Akinyede shares his story.

Akinyede was born into a polygamous family in Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State of Nigeria to the family of the Akinyede-Asamo dynasty. 2013, he registered for MTech in Construction Management at CPUT and graduated in 2015. He then worked as a project manager from 2015 to 2016. Akinyede commenced his DEng degree in 2016. His work experience manifested in his research on affordable, sustainable housing delivery, and his role as a research assistant, mentor and lecturer helped him “tremendously with research outcome”.

His mother, Felicia Akinyede, a trader, made Akinyede understand that the road map to success is through education, and she encouraged him to achieve his set target in education morally and financially. The primary factor that helped him to get to the present position is his endurance and perseverance “through God's guidance.

“And I always set a target for myself and focus on the achievement.”

Akinyede received the Vice-Chancellor Prestigious Achievers Award in 2019 and 2020.  “It helped me greatly to complete my doctorate within the record time as scheduled by the university. I was a debtor to the university, and registration became difficult due to the debt I owed the school [CPUT]”. Immediately, I received this award, and after that, I could register in 2019 and 2020, respectively.”

“The Vice-Chancellor Prestigious Achievers Award impacted my career and life significantly. I was on the verge of dropping out of school because of financial challenges, but the monetary value attached to the award helped me pay the fees and accommodation expenses.”

Akinyede, the construction management and quantity surveying lecturer, passed his master’s degree at CPUT. During the master’s degree programme, he presented and published nine conference papers accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) for subsidies. His excellent work manifested in his doctoral degree programme, consequently, Akinyede published an article in an international journal accredited by DHET and presented five conference papers at local and international level. His thesis focussed on affordable housing delivery, based on the challenge of housing affordability and availability in South Africa.

Reflecting on the support he received from CPUT staff during his studies, Akinyede says: “My departmental staff are virtuous people, ready to assist at all times. The love and kindness shown to me by the academic staff of the Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying during this study was wonderful and appreciated.”

Akinyede also pays tribute to the Vice-Chancellor and the awards committee. He acknowledged the support of the Vice-Chancellor for skill development at CPUT. “I am one of the beneficiaries. The formation of the Vice-Chancellor Prestigious Achievers Award is a good initiative by the CPUT management team. My appreciation goes to the award committee for nominating me as one of the recipients.”

“I will forever be grateful to the Vice-Chancellor and the awards committee for the financial value attached to the award. Furthermore, I appreciate the Vice-Chancellor for the letter he sent to me on my graduation. I am willing to continue my academic career at CPUT about the content of the letter sent to me by the VC to join a group of talented academics at CPUT.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce

Email: boyceap@cput.ac.za