Cape Peninsula University of Technology () is a university in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is the only

university of technology An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

province, and is also the largest university in the province, with over 32,000 students. It was formed by merging the Cape Technikon and Peninsula Technikon as well as a few other independent colleges.

History

It was formed in January 2005 from the merger of the Cape Technikon and Peninsula Technikon, following years of change in the higher education landscape of South Africa. In 1993, the Technikons Act was promulgated, which allowed technikons to offer

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

s ( B.Tech),

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

s in Technology. In March 2001, Kader Asmal (then Minister of Education) announced the National Plan on Higher Education, and in May 2002 he announced the possible merger of the two institutions, with the national working committee also recommending the

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC; ) is a Public university, public research university in Bellville, South Africa, Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the Politics of South Africa, South ...

to be included in the merger. Towards the end of 2002, the final merger was announced, and in October 2003 the new name was approved. The Executive Interim Management was appointed towards the end of 2004. Prof. L Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga was appointed as the first

vice-chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

of CPUT in February 2006. Also at this time, the nine faculties of the original institutions were merged and re-organised into six: Applied Science, Business, Education and Social Sciences, Engineering, Health and Wellness Sciences, and Informatics & Design. A separate postgraduate unit was established to offer multidisciplinary postgraduate programmes and funded research known as the e-Innovation Academy, and as from March 2008 the Faculty of Informatics & Design Research Unit. The Department of Information Technology in collaboration with the Bridgetown Community,

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

, COFISA and IDM launched the Athlone

Living lab The concept of the living lab has been defined in multiple ways. A definition from the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) is used most widely, describing them as "user-centred open innovation ecosystems” that integrate research and innovati ...

, a community ICT innovation project, in September 2008. This would be the first Living Lab in the Western Cape.

Trevor Manuel Trevor Andrew Manuel (born 31 January 1956) is a retired South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist who served in the cabinet of South Africa between 1994 and 2014. He was the South African Department of Finance, Minister of ...

was appointed chancellor of the university in April 2008. Foreign students (those from outside the SADC), are required to pay double the fees of local students.

Campuses

CPUT has five campuses: * The Bellville Campus, formerly the campus of the Peninsula Technikon () * The District Six Campus, formerly the campus of the Cape Technikon in

Zonnebloem Zonnebloem (Dutch language, Dutch for sunflower) is a suburb in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa, previously part of District Six. It was a farming estate until the early 19th century, ...

() * The Mowbray Campus, formerly the Mowbray College of Education () * The Granger Bay Campus, housing the Cape Town Hotel School and the Survival Centre () * The

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Campus, formerly the Boland College of Education () The Cape Town Campus is built on a portion of

District Six District Six (Afrikaans: ''Distrik Ses'') is a residential neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa, located next to the city's Cape Town CBD, CBD. In 1959, people of color were banned from the area and most of them were resettled in Gugulet ...

Co-operative education

The large majority of courses offered by CPUT incorporate in-service training; the training consists of an internship, usually six months to a year. The university's comprehensive co-operative education policy ensures the student is placed within a company approved by the university; this ensures that institutional academic learning is incorporated into work-based content.

Notable people

* Zozibini Tunzi actress, model and Miss Universe 2019 * Seth Rotherham entrepreneur and media personality * Gillian Abel public health researcher * Tariro Mnangagwa film producer, actress and conservationist * Justin Bonello television personality, producer, and writer. * Alvin Botes

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) politician *

retired politician and former anti-apartheid activist * Celeste Matthews Wannenburgh actress, playwright

References

External links