Education and training

Enrolment at Sol Plaatje University is rising.

The two big events that stand out in the Northern Cape education sector in recent times are the opening of Sol Plaatje University and the establishment of one of the world’s great scientific ventures within the province’s boundaries, the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope project.

But there is another development that should not be ignored: the selection as provincial premier of Dr Zamani Saul. Already the holder of a PhD in law, two Master’s degrees and a BProc, Dr Saul is studying towards a second PhD. On his watch, the province’s various bursary programmes have been consolidated in the Premier’s Bursary Fund, with a total spend in the 2019/20 year of about R36-million.

A further R7-million was allocated by the Office of the Premier to youth skills development with a focus on portable skills such as basic refrigeration and air-conditioning maintenance and security.

Speaking at the AGM of the Fund, Saul said, “At the heart of a modern, growing and successful province is education. We won’t be able to modernise the province if we do not place emphasis on the education of our children.”

At the time that Saul took office, 97% of all schools in the Northern Cape had Internet connectivity (542 out of 556) for teaching and learning purposes and he promised a renewed effort to connect the remaining 14 schools. The project has drawn praise for the fact that the public and private sectors are working together to achieve agreed goals.

The Namaqua Maths and Science project (NaMaSci) is a partnership between the Northern Cape Department of Education and the University of Stellenbosch which aims to help students in the Namakwa district gain access to tertiary study. Tutors offer holiday classes in Springbok.

The Provincial Government of the Northern Cape has several skills programmes, including the Artisan Construction Programme, a three-year incubation programme aimed at young people, the Phakamile Mabija Apprenticeship (artisan incubation programme) and the S’hamba Sonke Contractor Development Programme.

Image: SAASTA Sector Insight Carnarvon High School’s Lego Robotics team won gold in Uruguay.

Big data

Carnarvon is the physical focus of the SKA, but the province as a whole and the new university

in Kimberley will benefit from its broadband connectivity, highperformance computing, big data and data analysis.

With support from SKA, Carnarvon High School is the only school in the area offering maths and science. As of 2019, 15 matriculants from the school have been awarded university undergraduate bursaries.

Five schools in the area participate in Lego Robotics programmes and a team of eight from Carnarvon High won a gold cup for “inspiration” at the 2019 International Lego League competition in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Artisan training has also benefitted from the presence of SKA in Carnarvon. The new technical training centre has trained 84 students as electricians, fitters and turners, in instrumentation, diesel mechanics, in IT and boilermaking, as well as in carpentry, plumbing, bricklaying and welding.

After years of lobbying for a university, the Northern Cape now has its own place of higher learning, Sol Plaatje University, named after the great intellectual, writer and advocate for equal rights, Sol Plaatje. One of his books, Native Life in South Africa, tells the story in harrowing detail of how black South Africans were thrown off their land as a consequence of the 1913 Land Act. He was also a novelist, a translator and one of the founding members and first Secretary-General of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), which became the ANC. Kimberley is part of the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality.

The first intake of students at the Kimberley campus in 2014 was 124. At the 2019 graduation ceremony, 319 students were congratulated and when classes began for the 2020 academic year, over 700 first-time students enrolled. Approximately 60% of the students are enrolled in teacher training courses.

A group of students from the university (Team Dumela) has already made waves at national level, being awarded second place at the National ITWeb Security Summit.

The academic programme is housed in four schools: Education; Humanities; Natural and Applied Sciences; Economic and Management Sciences. Bachelor’s degrees are offered in education, science, science in data, ICT, heritage studies, commerce and arts. A diploma in retail business management (three years) and a one-year higher certificate in heritage studies completes the prospectus.

The provincial government is implementing its Northern Cape Information Society Strategy in partnership with the university. Astronomy-related courses are planned for the future to dovetail with the Square Kilometre Array.

The Northern Cape Urban TVET College comprises three campuses in Kimberley: City Campus, Moremogolo Campus and Phatsimang Campus where teacher training is done. At City Campus, students have access to three departments: business studies, engineering studies and a business unit that organises short courses in partnership with various public and private partners. At Moremogolo Campus students are offered courses in either the business studies or skills departments.

The Northern Cape Rural TVET College has campuses at Kathu, Upington, De Aar, Kuruman and Namakwaland. These colleges offer students courses in finance, economics and accounting; engineering; IT and computer science; management; hospitality; marketing; and tourism. NCRTVET College has a variety of part-time programmes and short skills programmes delivered in the form of learnerships, internships or apprenticeships. This enables adults and employed people to study after hours or to do enrichment courses. ■

Image: NCDOE

Online Resources

Northern Cape Department of Education: http://ncdoe.ncpg.gov.za Northern Cape Rural TVET College: www.ncrtvet.com Northern Cape Urban TVET College: ww.ncutvet.edu.za Sol Plaatje University: www.spu.ac.za Square Kilometre Array: www.ska.ac.za

South Africa’s newest university is making an impact

Sol Plaatje University, with award-winning buildings on a growing campus in Kimberley, is responding to local needs as enrolment rises.

In developing its academic disciplines, Sol Plaatje University took into account the unique needs and characteristics of the Northern Cape region. This approach led to the current focus areas of teacher education, ICT, heritage studies, data science and creative writing in African languages.

The university is named after Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, one of

South Africa’s great intellectuals. He was a novelist, a translator and one of the founding members and first Secretary-General of the South

African Native National Congress (SANNC), which became the ANC.

In 2014 Sol Plaatje University, in its inaugural intake, enrolled just 124 students, Enrolments have been growing steadily ever since and in 2020 it exceed 2000 students.

The fifth graduation ceremony in the university’s young history was held in December 2019 for 319 graduates from across its four schools. It now has over 700 successful graduates. Judge Steven

Majiedt, the Chancellor, presided over the ceremony in the Taberna

Dei Hall in New Park and the keynote address was delivered by outgoing Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Yunus Ballim.

Professor Andrew Crouch, a distinguished full professor of chemistry with extensive research and educational experience, took up the position of Vice-Chancellor and Principal from 1 April 2020.

Building beautifully

More than one philosopher has noted the link between beautiful surroundings and a good educational experience, so when it was decided to create a new university in Kimberley, every effort was made to create an atmosphere conducive to learning.

A competition was held to choose the architects to work on the new university. From a total of 59 entries, nine firms were selected in 2013 to enter the second round of the competition. Ultimately, five firms were chosen as winners, and they were tasked with completing work on the campus.

In terms of infrastructure, the jewel in the crown is the Central Campus, where the bulk of the academic operations are situated. The site of the historic William Pescod School and adjacent land parcels are now beyond recognition as state-of-the-art building after building have sprung up, with more being built as this article is written. The flagship Moroka building which houses student accommodation, academic offices, teaching and seminar rooms, an examination hall and academic offices, has been joined by the customised Teaching Practice Building, the Humanities Building, the Natural Science Laboratories Building and the iconic and prize-winning Library and Resource Centre Building. Currently under construction are the laboratory building for the applied sciences and a further academic science building.

The Library and Student Resource Centre (see the advert opposite), designed by designworkshop: sa, won the 2017 Fulton Concrete Awards for “Buildings Greater Than 3-Stories”. In 2019, the building design received the International Architecture Award. The Library and Resource Centre was designed as the functional and physical centrepiece of university life, including a state-of-the-art library, teaching study and social space. It is a social space where people make themselves available to wide-ranging incidental and planned interchanges in the course of daily life, both in the physical space and online, with and without books, collectively and in solitude, directed and enabled by mentors and among themselves. ■