The collaboration between CPUT and Koblenz University of Applied Sciences (KUAS) has yielded a life-changing job opportunity for a CPUT student to work as a Research Assistant in Germany.

The Research Assistant and Doctoral Candidate will work in Koblenz for up to three years. A suitable candidate must have an outstanding Master’s Degree in marketing, market research, brand management, business administration or any related area.

The successful candidate will complete a doctorate in the area of brand management at CPUT during their employment, among other responsibilities.  Applications should be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 31 August 2020.

The collaboration started when Professor Holger Schmidt (KUAS) spent a semester of his sabbatical at CPUT and collaborated with Dr Pieter Steenkamp from the Marketing Department on a brand management-related research project.

The collaboration resulted in a memorandum of agreement between the two institutions which was signed in 2019, with the Marketing Department being the custodian of the agreement at CPUT.

Steenkamp said the opportunity furthers CPUT’s internationalisation strategic imperatives and the student will be co-supervised by himself and Schmidt.

“Given the challenges in South Africa with access to quality education and employment, exacerbated by COVID-19, this opportunity will be life-changing for one of our students. At the end of the programme, the fortunate individual will be able to write Dr in front of their name and three years of international experience behind their name. Their life will never be the same again. This is how we are ‘Creating Futures’ at CPUT,” he said.

Mandy Jones, Head of Department: Marketing, said: “Every time our students get to experience different cultures, they grow, and this opportunity will be no different. Our investment in this partnership over the years has borne fruit for a life-changing opportunity for one of our postgraduate students.”

For more information about this vacancy contact Steenkamp on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Schmidt on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it...

Written by Kwanele Butana
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Doctoral candidate, Maphole Loke’s research has drawn international recognition as it has been accepted for publication at the 12th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions in Barcelona, Spain.

The conference has been scheduled for 2021 due to COVID 19 pandemic. The 29-year-old graduated with her Master of Engineering: Civil Engineering Summa Cum Laude (91%) last week. Her research: “Standard Protocols for restoring heritage cementing materials”, has been published in one journal (Journal of South African Institution of Civil Engineering) and presented in two international conferences (IEEE 10th International Conference on Mechanical and Intelligent Manufacturing Technologies (ICMIMT 2019) and XVII International Triple Helix Conference) including a presentation at the 2018 and 2019 CPUT postgraduate conferences respectively.

She was supervised by Dr Pallav Kumar, in joint supervision with adjunct Professor Rainer Haldenwang.

Kumar, a senior lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering, says, Maphole’s determination and eagerness to learn has established a link with the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) which, “We were trying to develop since the beginning of her research.”

“The relationship with SAHRA added a feather to our research.  She worked very hard to characterise the heritage mortar for Robben Island and Castle of Good Hope and develop a basic guideline for characterisation of heritage mortar. She is a very disciplined and meticulous student with a systematic problem-solving approach,” Kumar says.

Being born in a rural village called Likhoele Ha Sebusi, Mafeteng District approximately 80km from Maseru (Lesotho), Maphole was trained to work hard at a very young age. She says due to lack of development in her village, going to school was her mission. Because of her background, she only started pre-school at the age of six years. “I was not attending school but herding cattle and sheep… fetching water from the well, using horses and donkeys to fetch firewood.”

Maphole adds: “For the youth from the same background as myself, knowing and believing that your background does not have to determine who you end up becoming would be the best gift you would reward yourself with.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.