With its prime seafront location, the Granger Bay Campus is home to the renowned Cape Town Hotel School, the oldest in the city.

Last year the school was recognized by industry as the leader of hospitality education on the African continent. Last year alone the school produced close to 100 graduates, of whom many were snapped up by industry, both locally and internationally.

The school has state-of-the-art training and educational facilities, including a show kitchen and alumni cocktail bar that forms part of the stylish Hotel School Restaurant, which is open to the public, seven days a week.

Positioned next to the V&A Waterfront and Table Bay Harbour, the campus also features a harbour area and extensive training facilities that form part of the Survival Centre.

The centre is a full member of the International Association for Safety and Survival Training and offers a wide-range of maritime safety courses for industry.

Courses in Maritime Engineering and Marine Engineering are also offered at the campus.

Maps and contact details for the Granger Bay Campus

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.

The Granger Bay Campus is home to the oldest hotel school in the city.

The Cape Town Hotel School is renowned in the South African hospitality sector, and produces highly skilled graduates who are trained in accommodation management, food and beverage management and professional cookery.

The school boasts state of the art facilities, including a show kitchen and a cocktail bar that forms an integral part of the Hotel School Restaurant, which is open to the general public.

Thembisile Molose, the Hotel School Director attributes their success to close ties with industry and remaining on par with the latest developments in their sector.

“Our international benchmarking ensures that we attract top learners from the best schools,” he says,

Last year the Hotel School signed a memorandum of understanding with top international culinary schools such as Ferrandi, a hotel school in Paris, France.

The campus also houses the Maritime Engineering Department and the cutting-edge Survival Centre. The campus also houses slipways that can accommodate vessels up to 46 ton, which can be rented.

Vessel owners who need to dock their boats for surveys, repairs and maintenance can do so at the Granger Bay Slipway.

Situated a stone's throw away from the world famous V&A Waterfront, the campus boast a harbour area and extensive marine training facilities.

View Granger Bay Campus maps and contact details

Written by Kwanele Butana
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Fifty-nine grade ten learners from the West Coast got a chance to inspect the Survival Centre at Granger Bay earlier this month. 

Acting Head of Department of Maritime Sciences Theresa Williams welcomed them before sending the youngsters from Diazville High School in Saldanha off to explore the premises and attend mathematics and science workshops.

Desmond Jackson, Acting Manager Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Units, said this was the second time they had worked with the Maritime Science Department to expose a high school from the West Coast to CPUT lecturers, students and classes.

Last year they first worked with Weston Technical High School in Vredenburg and this year they extended the programme to Diazville High School.

This service learning project forms part of community engagement, as does CPUT’s involvement with the Jazz on the Rocks project where the Cape Town Hotel School provided training on health and safety rules for food management to West Coast community members.

 Jackson says the visit proved a great opportunity for the schoolchildren to learn more about science and technology.

“We brought them here to experience the campus. Some of them have never been to Cape Town and now they can experience a lecture theatre. Plus our students and lecturers will help them with specific mathematics and science problems,” said Jackson.

Two Maritime Studies lecturers, Ekaterina Rzyankina and Captain Natasha Fowkes, organised the service learning project and they assigned first-year students to help with the workshops because they aren’t that much older than the grade 11 learners, and still have a common vocabulary.

The lecturers pushed the Maritime Sciences Department to get involved in this service-learning project as a way for students at the Survival Centre to engage with not only learners from another community but also the concept of blended learning.

“It does work and it is fun plus the students like it. They learn by tutoring someone else,” said Rzyankina.

One of the tutors for the day, Clifford Nolan, remembers he realised what he wanted to study when he attended a CPUT Open Day at Vredenburg High School when he was in grade ten in 2008.

Now a first-year marine engineering student, Nolan first worked after he finished matric before he enrolled at CPUT.

“Now I get to teach them,” he said pointing at the Diazville High School learners. Whenever he goes home to Vredenburg he makes a point of visiting the Arcelor Mittal Science Centre to talk to visiting leaners about his CPUT experience in the hopes of passing on his enthusiasm for studying.

Written by Theresa Smith
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To prepare students for an emergency evacuation or egression in the event of a crash landing on water, the Survival Centre recently collaborated with the Department of Emergency Medical Sciences (EMS) to host a Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) for 19 EMS students.

HUET is designed to equip students with the necessary skills to survive and escape from a helicopter that has ditched into the water. The primary aim is to ensure that students from the EMS programmes are prepared for real-life emergency scenarios involving helicopters, enhancing their overall emergency response capabilities. “This is essential training as EMS practitioners could be required to proceed to an emergency in a helicopter. Aeromedical rescue module is part of their curriculum, and thus Survival Centre and EMS collaborate to complete the outcomes and assessment,” said Senior Maritime Instructor and Manager: Survival Centre, Samantha Montes.

The HUET course provides several benefits to the EMS students as they experience a simulated helicopter ditching, both controlled and uncontrolled, which prepares them for actual emergencies. This hands-on approach helps bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world application. The training helps students develop essential survival skills such as underwater escape, proper use of safety equipment, and techniques for staying calm under pressure.

By successfully completing the HUET course, students gain confidence in their ability to handle emergencies, which is crucial for their future roles as EMS professionals.

The training also emphasises teamwork and coordination, “which are vital skills for EMS professionals who often work in teams during emergencies”.

“The training day was a resounding success. All students, including those who needed to reattempt the escape, successfully passed the course. This indicates that the training effectively prepared students, allowing them to demonstrate proficiency in the skills taught. The success can be attributed to the well-structured programme, the expertise of the instructors, and the determination of the students.”

The training was conducted by experienced professionals, Cara Alberts, Ryan McConney and Colin Daniels who ensured high-quality instructions and safety throughout the course. Alberts is a maritime instructor with extensive experience in underwater escape training. McConney is a lab assistant/safety assistant who provided essential support and guidance during the practical exercises. Meanwhile Daniels, a lab assistant/safety assistant assisted in ensuring the smooth operation of the training sessions and student safety. Both lab assistants operated the winch controls for the HUET

A fourth year Bachelor of Emergency Medical Care student, Chumani Qinisile said: “For me it was adventurous, because I've never experienced such in my lifetime. When you outside, you think it's just a walk in the park but once you get inside the helicopter, that's where you realise that it's real. It was fun though.”

Chumani said the training shapes “your mindset” on how to react on those certain circumstances, not to panic and handle it in a very good manner and a manner that “will help you” survive such incident “if you ever come across it”. “I was not scared, just a little bit nervous. I love any activity that involves water in it, so for me it was just having fun.”

The second HUET training session will be held on 5 June and 20 students are expected to partake in the programme.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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