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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.
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.
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.