Building a new generation of academics
Yanda Peter represents the future of academia in South Africa.
Peter is part of a large group of individuals who have been selected to participate in the nGAP programme, a bold initiative of the Department of Higher Education and Training, which aims to develop a new generation of academics who will replace retiring staff members.
At CPUT there are several nGAP participants, who upon successful completion of the six-year programme will fill key positions in the areas of mathematics, industrial design, retail management, sports science and electrical engineering.
A CPUT alumnus, Peter has spent the past 11 years working as a diagnostic radiographer at the Groote Schuur Hospital, however, over the next few years, she will reinvent her career.
This ambitious career move will not only benefit her, but is set to benefit thousands of student radiographers who over the next few decades will be skilled under her watchful eye.
Her decision to trade the hospital for the lecture room was one that was in the making for years. Peter says she always enjoyed interacting with students who were interning at the hospital and when she saw the nGAP advertisement, her colleagues encouraged to apply.
And Peter has no regrets about her career move.
“The nGap programme offers me developmental opportunities and will help me to develop as an academic. There are also not many researchers in the field of radiography, and I hope to add and grow this body of research.”
As part of the six-year programme, nGAP participants have to immerse themselves in their fields of research, obtain their doctorates, as well as develop their lecturing skills.
Several months into her post at the Department of Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences, Peter is at home in her new environment on the Bellville Campus.
“I was anxious the first time I had to lecture, but now I am used to it. It is getting easier and I am really enjoying it,” she says.
Peter says her passion for radiography, coupled with her industry experience will ensure that she succeeds in the nGAP programme.
“When you do theory in class, you need to link it to the practical. If you have been in industry, then you know how to link the theory to the practical aspects of the job. You can explain things because you know exactly what you are talking about,” she says.
Peter says radiography, like any field in medicine is something that you cannot just like or be good at, but you have to have a passion for the profession.
“As a radiographer, you bring technology and medicine together. You are ulitising technology to help diagnose as well as treat a patient,” he says.
Although she misses interacting and treating patients on a daily basis, Peters says her current work is still very much linked to helping patients.
“I am teaching 70 students and each of them will go out and impact on the lives of many people. In this way, I am still helping people.”
