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Events, Awards & General Activities
The Honourable Minister for Higher Education, Science, and Innovation, Minister Dr BE Nzimande officially opened and unveiled the College of Cape Town for TVET’s first-of-its-kind, state-of-the-art-twenty-first-century centre and historic Triple Modular Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Skills Centre on Friday, 28 July 2023.
The Hybrid Triple Modular BPO Skills Centre is through the Honourable Minister, Dr BE Nzimande’s visionary leadership and commitment to the advancement of sustainable skills development, and the great contribution to the TVET Sector.
Caping Graduates and Passing out Artisans
The Crawford Campus Main Hall was the home to the 2023 College of Cape Town Graduation and Certificate Ceremony on the 18th of May 2023. This year’s annual event brought in some new editions to the annual event, which included the passing out of artisans. According to the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) “Decade of the Artisans” mandate, all colleges need to produce and celebrate artisans, intending to address and promote skills development in the nation. All passing-out artisans received a toolkit according to their trades; they were so happy and said they will now be able to begin their careers of being self-employed in their communities.
Since 2022 the College has reached a resolution that only the National Diploma and Artisans will form part of the College Graduation and Certificate ceremony which is a huge event on the college calendar. With that being agreed upon, the Wynberg Skills Centre Management sat down and planned to have their own graduation and top achiever ceremony to ensure that the students at Wynberg don’t feel side-lined.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” - Proverbs. 3: 5-6. This verse is profound and significant in the life and career path of Mihle Mvelakubi, who despite life’s challenges had faith in the Lord and allowed Him to lead him in the path of Career righteousness.
World Plumbing Day was first established in 2010 by the World Plumbing Council to recognize the critical role of plumbing in promoting public health and environmental sustainability. The day has been celebrated ever since to promote awareness about the importance of plumbing and its contribution to society, and its purpose to preserve and improve sanitation. As well as highlight access to clean water and hygienic conditions, and safe sanitary facilities to reduce the spread of diseases.
On Tuesday, 31 January, the Athlone Campus NCV Department hosted a “Second Chance” Information Session. This session is for students who are repeating NCV subjects either distance/full-time or along with their parents/guardians. The subject Lecturers also formed part of this session.
The College of Cape Town is well represented by the Pinelands Campus student: Mogamat Ridhaa Fisher for Refrigeration and Air Conditioning at the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition in Nuremberg, Germany.
Some of the hearing-impaired students from our City Campus Art & Design Department alongside the Head of Department: Art & Design and Business Studies Ms Lodene Groenewald joined the Marketing Team at the DEAFSA Open Day which was hosted at Sanlam head office in Bellville.
Automotive Motor Mechanic students at the College of Cape Town’s Athlone Campus launched their first racing car in December 2019. The 1986 Jetta Mach model which was modified by 20 students who stripped the vehicle from scratch, are now participating in competitive racing at the Killarney Racetrack. Race Car Driver Azhar Davids joined the Athlone Campus in early 2022 and found out about this amazing car and immediately volunteered to be the driver as the previous driver was in the process of completing his studies. Azhar started racing at home in 2015 as his father is also a racing driver and he inspired him to join racing.
The Workplace-Based Learning (WPBL) Forum of the Western and Northern Cape Region recently hosted the first of many workshops that emphasised the importance of TVET College placement for students that are differently abled. WPBL departments of the 8 TVET Colleges in the region along with various host employers, Student Support Services, Academics, and many other private companies, supported this much-needed event to ensure compliance and mitigate risks when recruiting new placement opportunities.
Background:
The 16 Days of Activism Campaign is an international United Nations-endorsed initiative that takes place annually from 25 November (International Day of No Violence against Women) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day). The period was designated by the UN General Assembly to raise public awareness on gender-based violence in line with resolution 54/134 of 17 December 1999.
Earlier this year, the College of Cape Town Hospitality Department was approached by Ralph Gottschalk, Culinary Director of the Kofler Group Middle East LLC, to select N6 Hospitality and Catering Services students to apply for an opportunity to work as Front of House Facing Commis Chefs at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. We are proud to announce that four of our students were selected after a difficult interview process. The students will depart for Doha on the 1st of November 2022 and return home on the 11th of December 2022. This is an amazing opportunity for our students to gain an international perspective of the Hospitality Industry, especially at a world-renowned event such as the FIFA World Cup. Furthermore, we would like to take the opportunity to wish our students well.
Sanele Tshonaphi is a twenty-seven-year-old young male from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape and currently residing in Khayelitsha. He completed his matric in 2015 and decided to pursue a career in Tourism. Thus, he enrolled for a National Diploma in Travel and Tourism with the College of Cape Town. Sanele intentionally came to Cape Town knowing it is South Africa’s number 1 tourism destination, with the best places to visit for international and local tourists. Being accepted by the College of Cape Town was a dream come to a step closer to realising his dream of a career in Travel and Tourism.
He commenced his studies at the college in 2016 however due to unforeseen circumstances he had to drop out before completing his National N6 Certificate. This forced him to take a gap year, before approaching the Overseas Visitors Club (OVC) World Study Travel for assistance, they helped secure him a one-year internship abroad where he worked for Kalahari Resorts in the State of Pennsylvania, United States of America. Once he completed the internship, he came back to South Africa to complete his studies, unfortunately, because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, he was unable to immediately continue with his studies. He was fortunate enough to secure a job at a five-star hotel in Constantia as a Housekeeper.
Mandilakhe Pato is a young man who hails from Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape and currently residing in Khayelitsha while completing his studies in a Management Assistant at the College of Cape Town’s City Campus. Mandilakhe is a proud author of a Xhosa novel titled: “Ndixolele Peter” (Forgive Me Peter), the story is about parental relations and its challenges. He has witnessed a lot of children suffering from psychological trauma resulting from a lack of guidance and support from parents and/guardians, he hopes his book will address this and break the cycle.
Melisango Gwaza was born in a small Eastern Cape town called Alice. After completing his matric, moved to Cape Town in search of employment opportunities. Upon arrival, decided to further his studies, choose to enrol for Business Management at the College of Cape Town Guguletu Campus. He always had a keen interest in business, in High School he was selling sweets and chips for pocket money. In 2017 after completing his National N6 Certificate in Business Management, he only had one thing in mind “to start his own business”, he started his bottled water business called “IVATI” (IVATI Water).
Sharmila Cloete, who is currently an apprentice plumber at the College of Cape Town, Thornton Campus, was the only female who formed part of a team that took part in the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) initiative to refurbish the Holy Cross Children’s home in Parow Valley. Sharmila Cloete worked along with her fellow apprentice plumber students and professional plumbers. The areas that needed attention in the Children’s Home were identified and groups were formed to focus on the different areas identified.
The student modified and re-built racing car by the College of Cape Town’s Athlone Campus Automotive Motor Mechanic students, under the Young Engineers Motor Development Programme (YEMDP) has thus far participated in four competitive Clubman’s saloon events/races (entry class X). The vehicle is currently being raced (driven) by Mr Lucin Downes, Facilitator at Athlone Campus for Automotive Motor Mechanic.
Each academic year the College officially welcomes the newly registered students at each Campus’ Academic Opening, this event allows the new students to see the College Executive, lecturing staff and support staff. However, with the new normal (current world pandemic) we have seen ourselves moving from our usual seven Academic openings (one in each of the seven campuses) to a total of twenty-four sessions broken down at each campus and according to the student capacity for each programme.
On 06 November 2020, saw the official opening of the BPO Academy at the College of Cape Town, Gardens Campus which will not only provide opportunities for young people to gain the necessary skills to graduate into an exciting career in the BPO sector, but importantly also ensures a talent pipeline for a fast-growing sector that is contributing significantly to job creation in Cape Town and the Western Cape.
On Friday, 12 February 2021, the Hospitality Department hosted a Valentine’s Day showcase. The Hospitality lecturers, along with Report 191 N6 students, planned, prepared and presented a variety of Valentine’s Day treats.
