The Finance and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Fasset) has donated R14.6m in student bursaries to the Graduate Centre for Management (GCM) this year.

Not fewer than 125 deserving Accounting students, from second-year upwards, benefitted from the allocation received from the Fasset’s PIVOTAL Bursary Scheme with Academic Support. The successful applicants had to prove that their annual household income was not more than R600 000, the so-called “Missing Middle” grouping.

GCM’s Arnelle Meyer said CPUT and Fasset have been working in partnership for years. Meyer said besides tuition fees the bursaries cover textbooks, transport and accommodation expenses.

“They have access to a tutor on a weekly basis. Fasset is trying to address the financial burden weighing down the students from completing their studies.” She added that the students will also attend lectures during university holidays.

The award includes the provision of soft skills training which covers the following:

• Communication (reading/ observing; business writing; study skills, speaking skills); 
• Interpersonal skills (teamwork; networking);
• Decision-making skills (problem-solving, critical thinking);
• Life skills (stress management, time management, ethics, job search strategies, interview skills)

Dean of Business and Management Sciences, Prof Paul Green, said he was extremely excited about the project and commended GCM for the initiative which he referred to as a strategic project.

“You are very privileged to get the opportunity to study,” Green told the successful students. He added that research shows that universities have a high dropout rate.

“The university wants to help deserving students who are needy to complete their studies. Make yourselves and the faculty proud, work hard.”

Written by Kwanele Butana

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The Faculty of Business and Management Sciences recently welcomed this year’s cohort of international exchange students to CPUT.

Part of the students’ orientation week included a Welcoming Luncheon which was hosted by the Faculty’s Associate Dean Ivan van der Heever and Dr Diane Bell, Manager: Special Initiatives and Projects.

The students also participated in a campus tour, a library orientation and information literacy training session, a tour of the Peninsula and a cultural tour.

The tours were led by Bell, Nicole Umwizerwa, Co-ordinator of International Exchanges, and Siphelele Mblashwa, Assistant to Co-ordinator of International Exchanges.

The students come from European universities, namely, Carinthia University in Austria, Ravensburg University (Germany), Nuertingen-Geislingen (Germany), Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (Germany), Fontys University (Netherlands), IPAG University (France) and Odisee University (Belgium).

The BMS Faculty receives approximately 50 exchange students per year who come to CPUT to undertake undergraduate studies for a semester within the faculty’s various departments. For the first semester of 2019, the faculty has received 23 students from its partner universities in Europe.

“In return, we send between 12 and 15 students per year to our partner universities. Our students participate in three-month and six-month academic exchange programmes which count towards their present studies,” says Umwizerwa.

Two deserving students are selected by their respective departments and nominated for the faculty’s international exchange programme.

Written by Kwanele Butana

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Western Cape High Court Judge Justice Siraj Desai says paralegal studies are responsible for bringing legal services closer to the people while at the same time upholding the ethics of the profession.

"You are entering some field of law," Desai told the students in the Unit for Applied Law during an awards ceremony on the Bellville Campus recently. He told them that he spent most of his career as a lawyer defending activists of the 1976 Soweto Uprising. “However, the challenges are different now from how they were during my days of practicing as a lawyer,” he added.

He cited a survey report by the Human Rights Foundation which revealed that many people do not know the Constitution or the Bill of Ríghts.

Prof Paul Green, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, said the Bachelor of Paralegal Studies is the first qualification of its kind in the country. "I am extremely proud of the pioneering work done by the Unit of Applied Law," he said.

Green added that a fish grows only as big as the size of the bowl or pond in which it's kept.

Merit Awards were awarded to the following full-time students according to their academic performance in 2018, with Aamira Adams coming first, followed by in order, Baxolise Mjekula, Bongiwe Matsha, Weshiano Ambrose, Vincent Masilela, Ruan Beukes, Sinazo Zuzani, Siyanda Zono, Limpho Santho and Whitney Morris.

Siyavuya Meyisi walked away with an award for being the Best Achiever among part-time students while Stacey Keiso received the Ambassador Award, Darren Felix the Perseverance Award and Zwelithini Gwele the Ubuntu Service Award.

Written by Kwanele Butana

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Patricia de Lille proved to be a hot ticket speaker at the first Cape Times Breakfast hosted at the Cape Town Hotel School Restaurant in Granger Bay.

A mix of Cape Times subscribers and editorial staff, media from various outlets and social justice groups gathered to listen to the politically embattled mayor talk about spatial transformation.

Introducing the mayor, Independent Newspapers Regional Marketing Manager Vernon Adams welcomed the Cape Town Hotel School into a new partnership. The Cape Town Hotel School forms part of CPUT’s Faculty of Business and Management Sciences’ portfolio.

Adams pointed out that the Cape Times Breakfast was notable not only because of the topics of discussion raised by speakers but also for the way the venue showed that Cape Town was a place of empowerment.

He drew everyone’s attention to the waiters who are all CPUT students: “It is an accomplished team,” said Adams.

Welcoming de Lille to the Granger Bay Campus Head of School: Sports Events Tourism and Hospitality Management Mandisa Silo said the mayor’s presence had brought a bit of excitement to the campus, “but we are used to that.”

“We prepare our students for greatness,” said Silo.

De Lille started off by alluding to her forthcoming court challenge to interdict the City from declaring a mayoral but she quickly shifted gears to first enumerate Cape Town’s achievements as a sought-after tourism destination and World Design Capital of 2014.

She spent the bulk of her time working through what changes would be wrought in 11 areas around the City according to the City’s Transit-Oriented Development Strategic Framework which dovetails with the national government’s Integrated Urban Development.

 “To correct the apartheid spatial planning we need to first acknowledge our history.

“The emphasis is now on building a more inclusive and equitable city,” said de Lille.

She called it an indictment on government leaders that we have not done more to reverse that planning over the past two decades but pointed out that this Strategy, adopted by City of Cape Town in 2016, will change how the city is oriented, creating growth and development opportunities around transport hubs.

 Once the Q&A session was opened things got heated with representatives of social justice organisations challenging de Lille on various issues around development of high density housing.

Adams eventually reluctantly had to call an end to the Cape Times Breakfast which by then was running over scheduled time.

*The Cape Times Breakfast will host four more events at the Cape Town Hotel School Restaurant.

Written by Theresa Smith
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