The Public Relations Management (PRM) academic Department at CPUT is taking integrated learning to a new dimension by adopting a cutting-edge style to experiential learning.

One such experiential learning project is an in-house PR agency called STREAMLINE, which was recently launched by the PRM Media Studies Office.

“The concept of the agency is in keeping with the trend to integrate the academic understanding of PR and that of industry,” said Monique Boucher, who is setting up the project as a Graduate Assistant within the Media Studies Office.

Boucher obtained her BTech degree in Public Relations Management cum laude from the institution while working as the assistant to the head of the PRM department, Prof Johann van der Merwe.

According to Boucher, the idea for the agency came through casual chats with Marian Pike, Senior Lecturer: Media Studies, while working at CPUT last year.

An idea was mentioned in one of the PR BTech classes of a university in the USA that structured their final year of PR study as an in-house agency/consultancy. This prompted Pike and Boucher to think about developing an agency think-tank.

The idea was then adopted by the PRM department and Boucher was asked to set up the agency and make it a viable experience from which students can benefit.

Last year, she set up PR Chatbox, a blog site for PR students, graduates and staff. Boucher also manages the PR students’ and graduates’ Facebook group and regularly updates the PR Chatbox link on the popular social networking site Twitter.

“We select our clients based on CPUT’s Social Responsibility Index programme development and community needs,” Boucher said.

“We are also motivated to keep up with industry trends and feed these back into the PRM programme to benefit of our department and students,” she added.

Some of the main projects that the agency is involved in include JAG Rugby, a non-profit organisation that brings rugby to children in underprivileged communities, for whom they are developing a social media strategy.

In addition, the agency facilitated a limited number of PR students to conduct market research for a business feasibility study in Franschhoek.

STREAMLINE invites committed PR students with a sound academic record to apply for positions as PR Assistants for the agency on a volunteer basis.

This mentorship opportunity in practical PR activities will allow students at all levels to improve their skills and graduate with relevant and holistic industry related experience.

To find out more about STREAMLINE, visit www.streamlinepr.wordpress.com or email Monique Boucher at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

By Thando J. Moiloa

Photo The STREAMLINE Office Team: (left to right) Monique Boucher, Graduate Assistant, Jade Snyman, third year PRM student intern; Rifqah Abrahams, Junior Lecturer: Media Studies and Marian Pike, Senior Lecturer: Media Studies

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For first year Environmental Management and second year Public Relations Management students, 2009 has been a year with a strong environmental sustainability focus.

Over the past two terms, the students have been working on various projects that explore new ways to make the CPUT community aware of how to use paper in an environmentally responsible manner.

These initiatives were undertaken as a result of a call by CPUT’s Green Sustainability Forum for new teaching and advocacy projects on environmental issues.

In the first term, Environmental Management first years were divided into groups of ten and were asked to submit a report investigating paper efficiency in either the Environmental and Occupational Studies Department, Graphic Design Department or Public Relations Department.

To research the topic, they spoke to staff members, students, cleaners and store managers. The students also collected data on the paperwaste generated by the Departments by examining and analysing contents of communal bins.

The students later presented their completed reports to a cross-discliplinary panel that included Environmental Ethics and Communication theory lecturer Leanne Seeliger, Research Methodology Lecturer Phumzile Mniki, Public Relations Lecturer Dr Nirvana Bechan and Health and Safety Officer Eugene Laloo.

Running in parallel to the Environmental Management project, was an environmentally focussed initiative for second year Public Relations Students, supervised by Dr Bechan.

The students were asked to draw on their understanding of media theory to design a piece of publicity alerting staff members to why they need to be conscious of saving paper or energy. The students were also required submit a report explaining how their theoretical knowledge informed the choices they made in their assignments.

For the Environmental Management and Public Relations students, participating in the paper-saving projects provided an opportunity to, at an undergraduate level, acquire skills that would serve them throughout their academic careers, such as research methodology and report writing.

Through their research, they also discovered actions that they could take in their daily lives to help prevent paper waste, such as photocopying on both sides of a page when copying notes and recycling used paper as scrap notepads.

Seeliger, who co-founded the Green Sustainability Forum in February 2009 as a means to foster collaborations on environmental issues between students, academic staff and non-academic staff, said that the paper-saving projects had successfully formed a common focus for representatives from different Departments and different subjects.

She noted that the Environmental Management assignment had involved co-ordination between lecturers in Communication Skills, Research Methodology, Calculation and Statistics, thereby creating a working environment that resembled what the students may face in postgraduate studies or in industry.

“You teach in separate subjects, but this is more like a real life situation with different groups working together. Students are dealing with real life issues. They are learning skills,” she said.

During the third term, the project will be rolled out to Environmental Management Extended Programme students, who will investigate paper usage in the Civil Engineering and Surveying Department. These students will be asked to formulate and implement strategies that put the recommendations contained in their reports, and those of the other students, into practice.

To join the Green Sustainability Forum, contact Leanne Seeliger at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

By Ilana Abratt

Photo: (clockwise) Team Three received the highest appraisal in the Environmental Management assignment; Green Sustainability Forum co- founder Leanne Seeliger with project collaborators Prabha Rama and Phumzile Minki; Kilograms of waste paper are accumulated at academic institutions each year.

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“I just told my students that we are going to have our lecture via Twitter and that they needn’t attend class on the specified date”. Marian Pike, Public Relations Management lecturer had a rapt audience at the first-ever annual Research and Innovation in Teaching and Learning (RITAL) Conference in December. Pike’s Twitter lecture was a world-first, and her RITAL conference paper, titled ‘Learning tweet by tweet: Reshaping lectures for Twitter’, highlighted the benefits of using the popular social network and micro-blogging service in education.

Pike added that she is planning on “tweeting” a lecture again in the near future, after experiencing how effective this medium of communication can be.

Prof Chrissie Boughey, Dean of Teaching and Learning at Rhodes University delivered the keynote address to a packed auditorium on the Granger Bay campus. The Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development hosted the ground-breaking conference, where Boughey spoke about her research on Universities of Technology. She also paid tribute to the work of her colleague Prof Terence Volbrecht, former Fundani CHED Director, who is about to leave CPUT and South Africa. Showing research statistics she had done independently, Boughey said she found that “only 5% of students graduated in regulation time at UoT’s, while 56% of students leave the system without ever graduating”.

Volbrecht, who will be emigrating to Australia soon, believes more can be done to improve higher education institutions while bettering the percentage of graduates. “We have to be far more systematic in our approach to better the current state of affairs. Research shows that students drop out because of non-academic issues. If the government can join forces with higher education institutions, it would be a step in the right direction”, Volbrecht insisted.

Presentations followed and were categorised according to the themes of the conference. These included Innovative Teaching Practice Educational Research; Developing Responsive Curricula; Improving Student Learning; and Innovative Teaching Practice.

In addition to the use of Twitter, Facebook and blogging was also investigated as a means of innovating in teaching at CPUT. In a paper presented by Dr Ivala and Mrs Gachago, a significant finding was that appropriate use of Facebook and blogs enhances student engagement in learning activities. The social network site was found to be a great “blurrer of boundaries” between students’ academic and social lives, and thus a positive force in improving their engagement.By: Mariëtte Adams

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On 1 August 2008, the Department of Public Relations Management officially moved from the Faculty of Business to the Faculty of Informatics and Design.

The change of Faculty allows the Public Relations Management to be offered by the same Faculty that supports programmes in Multimedia Technology, Photography, Film and Video and Journalism.

“The move of the Department of Public Relations Management to the Faculty of Informatics and Design has brought exiting challenges for synergies with other Departments, exploring cutting edge technology that has become the vehicle for successful communication in the twenty-first century,” said Public Relations Management Head of Department Johann van der Merwe.

The National Diploma and BTech in Public Relations Management equip students with strategic communication management and planning skills in order to design effective messages to reach a specific public or publics.

The programme focuses on components that are necessary in strategic communication, such as trend analysis, stakeholder management and the forecasting and researching of public perceptions, which are translated into creative and practical message design, in order to meet the strategic objectives of an organisation.

The programme is offered within the framework of changing information technology. Students are equipped with basic business and life skills to assist them in working within diverse professional environments.

Public Relations Management students are also exposed to other relevant disciplines such as law, social psychology, marketing and industrial relations in order to prepare each student to be a well-rounded, employable individual.

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