Council would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof Louis Fourie for standing in as Acting Vice-Chancellor during the most challenging and difficult time at our institution.  We are indebted to his contribution during this period.  Thank you very much, nangamso, baie dankie!

We welcome Dr John Volmink who will be coming in as Acting Vice-Chancellor as of 31 October 2016.  We wish Dr Volmink all the wisdom and pledge our support to him. Working together as a university community we are sure to reach a conclusion to the current crisis.  A sacrifice of Dr Volmink's nature will never be forgotten and we should consider how we can also make our own contribution during this period.

Profile of Dr Volmink

Written by CPUT News
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Today CPUT Acting Vice-Chancellor Dr John Volmink accepted an R8 million donation from Absa Bank toward student funding.

Using a combination of academic performance and financial need CPUT’s Financial Aid office has identified 267 qualifying students and will disburse the funds after a verification process has been completed. Many of the qualifying students either have very limited financial resources or fall within the “missing middle” category of students whose parents or guardians can only afford to pay a portion of the required university fees.

Volmink says the donation does not just affect the lucky students but their extended families as well.
“You must take the students you are helping then multiply it by thousands because you are creating thousands of opportunities and in fact you will never really be able to calculate the true cost because what Absa is doing is helping to break the cycle of poverty,” he says.   
“CPUT attracts rural, economically challenged students who are bright. These students desire the same things that other more affluent students want but what they need most is support both emotionally and financially. That is what you are doing here today.”

The donation forms part of Barclays Africa Group’s 2017 CEO Scholarship Fund which aims to disburse R210 million which will impact around 3 000 university students across the continent. Absa Africa Head of Citizenship Sazini Mojapelo says The CEO Scholarship Fund grew exponentially since its inception in 2016 when it was only expected to affect around 200 students.
“When we saw the Fees Must Fall movement we realised that as a large corporate it was important to answer the call to action. We increased the scholarship programme from 200 to 2000 students and this year we expanded it to 3000 across the continent,” she says.

In 2017 the fund expanded to include the peer to peer mentoring programme Elevate Education which, through a series of workshops, equips students with the skills to not only survive university but to thrive too.

Written by Lauren Kansley
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Liaises with the media and writes press releases about interesting developments at CPUT.

CPUT’s nano-satellite research has caught the attention of the Bavarian government and a recent symposium explored ways of leveraging this interest.

The symposium saw a delegation of Bavarian government officials and academics meeting their South African counterparts at CPUT’s Bellville campus to discuss nano-satellite Earth Observation Applications as Catalyst for International Collaboration as well as view the facilities at CPUT’s French South African Institute of Technology (F'SATI).

The partners in the collaboration are CPUT, F’SATI, Stellenbosch University, Cube Space, the South African Department of Science and Technology, the Bavarian government and universities, the National Research Foundation and the South African National Space Agency.

Dr John Volmink, CPUT’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, said Space Science Engineering and Technology is one of the university’s research focus areas.

Volmink added that the university’s satellite programme has been supported by the national government.

Prof Robert van Zyl, head of F’SATI at CPUT said marine protection and ocean governance is one of the four critical areas which were explored by the South African government to unlock the potential of the country’s vast coastline.

Amal Khatri, Executive Director at South African National Space Agency (SANSA) said low-cost satellites are more viable and have better access to funding.

“There is a need to invest in nano-satellites,” added Khatri.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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