Thanks to the Education Faculty students across South Africa will have access to recorded teacher training material.

This initiative is part of the Strengthening Foundation Phase Project funded by the European Union and the Department of Higher Education and Training.

Video recordings were made of Grade R and One lessons which were presented by CPUT students at different schools in the Western Cape. The lessons focused on language and mathematics.

The videos will be distributed with support guides to all universities in South Africa that offer teacher training programmes.

Senior lecturer in the Foundation Phase Department, Nici Rousseau, who coordinated the project, says the teacher training material can be used at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

“We hope that these videos with the support guides will become invaluable didactic tools, which will above all invite meaningful discussions between students and their lecturers on the many aspects that influence learning and teaching,” says Rousseau.

Written by Kwanele Butana

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The second European Union Education Fair hosted by CPUT recently was a phenomenal success.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Technology Innovation and Partnerships Dr Chris Nhlapo welcomed a high-profile delegation to the Bellville Campus where a special introduction to the Engineering Faculty was given.

OPTIONS: The recent EU Education Fair showcased study opportunities at 16 European universities

Director of CPUT’s International Affairs Office Merle Hodges says the international guests included Director General Education and Culture of the European Commission Jan Truszynski and Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of South Africa his Excellency Roeland van de Geer.

They were also accompanied by Dr Berene Kramer Social Sectors programme officer and Christophe Larose- Head of the Social and Governance EU delegation.

Guests from all over Africa and other local universities converged on the IT Centre for the EU Fair where European education and scholarship opportunities by approximately 16 European countries were explained.

Some of the countries represented included Romania, France, the Czech Republic, Spain, Germany, Flanders, The United Kingdom and Holland.

Hodges says another highlight was the EDULINK information session, which was the only one in Africa.

During the sessions the delegation was overwhelmed by the positive response to the presentations.

“One speaker asked the audience in a show of hands to say who would be submitting proposals and the entire audience raised their hands,” she says.

“The fair went very well and it was particularly exciting to see the number of interested parties from African universities.”

By LAUREN KANSLEY

Written by CPUT News
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An academic in the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences will be teaming up with European universities in research collaboration projects for which funding will be solicited from the European Union (EU).

Dr Michael Twum-Darko has recently returned from Slovakia where he formed the partnerships during the 4th International Week of Erasmus+ Teaching Staff Mobility at the University of Economics in Bratislava (UEB).

Twum-Darko says the event saw him building rapport with teaching staff from UEB and other European universities in order to strengthen international networks and exchange ideas.

“The participation is also for CPUT to meet the objective of supporting the staff mobility as part of its modernisation and internationalisation strategy, and to recognise it as a component in any evaluation or assessment of the teaching staff member.”

He will embark on collaborative research projects with the UEB and Niccolò Cusano University, Rome.

The projects include research on e-Leadership and e-Readiness in the public sectors of South Africa and Slovakia.

“A conceptual paper will soon be published as well as data collection in Bratislava City for comparative research.”

Sustainable Energy and Women Empowerment are some of the issues that will be explored. Twum-Darko adds that these issues require a substantial consortium to deliver outcomes aligned to the EU’s Sustainable Development Goals.

He says that at the event he shared his experience with his European counterparts and received knowledge that is likely to impact the research and collaboration agenda of his faculty and CPUT.

“I hope this will be a source of inspiration to other staff members.”

Written by Kwanele Butana
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R15 million has been earmarked to boost internationalisation strategies and resources at four historic disadvantaged institutions in South Africa.

The IMPALA project, short for the Internationalisation and Modernisation Programme for Academics, Leaders and Administrators, forms part of the Erasmus+ Key Action 2: Capacity Building in Higher Education programme, a European Union funded initiative.

CPUT along with the University of Forth Hare, University of Venda and the University of Limpopo have been hand-picked to benefit from the IMPALA project, which is the first initiative of its kind solely targeting international offices at South African intuitions. The European partners who will be assisting with capacity building include the University of Antwerp, University of Bologna, University of Graz, Utrecht Network and the Academic Cooperation Association.

Merle Hodges, the Director of the Office of International Affairs at CPUT, who is also the joint coordinator for IMPALA, says the project was conceptualised after the European partners visited South Africa and saw the need to support the respective international offices in driving internationalisation.

“The international offices are extremely small. There are plus minus four people per office who have to support internationalisation at these institutions,” she says.

Hodges says the project aspires to develop clear and viable internationalisation strategies within South African universities to bring them up to par and give them a much needed head start for future international cooperation initiatives.

“We also want to build a network of European and South African institutions and organisations to respond to the needs in the South African higher education community.”

FOCUS AREAS

Over the next two years the IMPALA project will focus on internationalisation of the curriculum, short-term programmes and summer schools, project writing and management, and development of a mobility toolkit that will help international offices manage international processes.

The first training week will commence in March with 80 staff members from participating institutions, as well as participants from non-partner universities. The training, which will be facilitated by the European and South Africa partners, with follow-up training sessions scheduled for later this year.

Hodges says training will touch on relevant matters, such as decolonization of curriculums in order to produce graduate attributes that will allow individuals to apply their knowledge globally. The summer schools are also an important means for the internationalization of education.

“Summer schools are highly in demand. When professionally organised they can be a suitable way to collect funds from external sources, in particular from tuition fees. The profit can be designated to support the organisation of international activities for the benefit of local students,” says Hodges.

Project writing is another highlight of the IMPALA project and training is targeted at developing a cohort of university staff members who can identify funding opportunities, submit successful applications, develop and implement projects utilising international and local funding.

• CPUT currently has six Erasmus + Capacity Building projects and six Credit Mobility Projects

Written by Candes Keating
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Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.