The Department of Maritime Studies and Survival Centre (DMS and SC) recently threw open the doors to the Granger Bay campus for an informative Open Day session.
They targeted between 400 and 500 learners from Western Cape schools and bussed in children from four schools in Langa.
Theresa Williams, acting Head of DMS and SC, said they have embarked on a campaign to create awareness of their course offering and to boost admission numbers.
“We are especially happy to see so many girls here today. In terms of our current student intake, the demographics is not balanced and this is definitely a drive to address that,” said Williams.
In the question and answer session the subject of mathematics as a requirement was a great topic of interest and different lecturers emphasised that Mathematics and not Maths Literacy was the requirement. “Pure Mathematics is the foundation required to succeed in the various maritime course modules. Learners with poor mathematics results can upgrade at a TVET College to gain access to DMS programmes,” said Williams.
She pointed out that they were already receiving queries about the Bachelor Degrees in Nautical Science and Marine Engineering programmes which will be introduced in 2020 alongside the revamped Diploma programmes.
“Especially from the rest of Africa, there’s a lot of interest from the SADC as well as Western and Central African regions,” she said.
Another popular subject of enquiry was the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) programme and there were some service provider representatives on hand to talk to potential students. In addition to explaining how their WIL stint works, Lucinda Krige of Sea Harvest Foundation surprised three current first year Maritime Studies students with an offer of in-service training and full bursaries to cover the rest of their studies.
Williams thanks her departmental team, the Faculty of Engineering’s management as well as the CPUT marketing team for their efforts and support in ensuring the Open Day’s success.
Written by Theresa Smith
#maritime studies
