The Faculty of Business and Management Sciences (FBMS) recently launched the HoD (Head of Department) Capacitation Programme, which is designed to assist HODs to manage and lead, to feel empowered and confident to execute their role.

The event was held at Granger Bay Campus. Prof Renitha Rampersad, Assistant Dean: Research & Innovation, provided the opening and the welcoming of guests. Acting Manager: Strategic Initiatives and Projects Andiswa Mrasi and Black Ops Inc. team founder, Sven Wolf, an Alumni of CPUT, Wolf presented the project’s overview. Wolf and Mandy Jones, HOD: Marketing presented the introduction of module 1, then the User trial (HoDs) which was followed by engagements.

Mrasi said: “As a leader and manager in a particular discipline, the head of department is expected to be actively involved with the management, planning, lecturing and research within the department, as well as ensuring that the mission and the strategic objectives of the University are manifested in set objectives executed at a Departmental level.

“The Head of Department plays a vital role in the University leadership, simultaneously having to understand and shape the "big picture" (vision, goals and direction) of the institution while also giving meticulous attention to the details of running a department.”

Mrasi, who is also the leader of the programme, hailed the feedback that they received from all the HoDs who attended the “successful” launch.

The objectives of the programme are:

• Capacitate newly appointed HoDs.
• Can be used as a refresher course by existing HoD.
• Most of the modules are presented by experienced HoDs in the Faculty. This is aimed at ensuring knowledge transfer and retention.
• Contribute to positioning the university as an employer of choice.
• Integrate performance development as a leverage to developing and growing staff.

“We have reached a very important milestone, one that speaks to Focus Area 4 of the Vision 2030 and that is Smart Human Capital. With this programme, our intent is clear as the faculty, we want to ensure that every academic department head is well equipped. Afterall, to achieve our bold objectives, we heavily rely on these very academic departments,” Mrasi continued.

“We wish to thank most sincerely Black Ops Inc. team lead by Mr Sven Wolf for their technical expertise and meeting our demands.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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Assoc Prof Karabo Ntwampe can’t help but see a touch of the surreal in his move into the new Chemical Engineering building on Bellville campus. 

Ntwampe entered the Chemical Engineering Department as a 19-year-old student tutor back in 1999 and now returns as the new Head of Department.

The past 11 years has seen him do every kind of job as he climbed the ranks through the Biotechnology and Consumer Science Department, finishing off as their HoD.

Sponsored to study by then Somchem, now Denel, Ntwampe worked for the munitions company after finishing his BTech in Chemical Engineering but returned to CPUT to finish his Masters (cum laude) in 2005 and immediately registered as the first doctoral candidate in Chemical Engineering the next year.

“Funnily enough, they rejected my proposal,” Ntwampe remembers with a wry smile.

While he wanted to register in Chemical Engineering his thesis topic strayed into Biotechnology, specifically concentrating on wastewater treatment, and it took a lot of arguing to be heard. Eventually, he discovered when the research committee would meet and invited himself to attend.

“I do understand that I was the first full-time PhD student they had and at the time research was not as big a focus for the university, it was geared more around teaching,” he said.

Together with fellow students Ntwampe and his colleagues formed a postgraduate student association to support each other as they tried to navigate the paperwork of further studies. What they quickly learned was they needed to understand university processes in order to navigate their studies. “We started off by complaining but that didn’t get us very far. What we learned was we also needed to provide solutions.” Today that group has produced four professors, seven doctors and a deputy vice-chancellor at a Tanzanian university among other accolades. “That’s what led me to try to actually help other students,” he said about the association.

Ntwampe has built up the interdisciplinary Bioresource Engineering Research Group over the years – they expect their sixth doctoral candidate to graduate this year – and hopes to build on its success to shepherd the Chemical Engineering Department to produce an even greater numbers of Masters and Doctorates than they do currently.

He believes moving into the new building is the perfect pretext for rebuilding a culture of inclusivity and tolerance and breaking down the distance he senses growing between staff and students.
“In this new building it’s a new future for us. People should see it as an opportunity to engage and start anew.”

That’s a long term project though. In the short term, once all the office furniture is squared away, Ntwampe wants to start a roof garden: “When we moved in and I saw the space I immediately thought ‘this is a space where students can come to engage and unwind.’ We might not have the view of District Six campus but we will have our own paradise.”

Written by CPUT Web Editor