In what's now become business as usual, the UCT GSB's full-time MBA programme has yet again moved up the ranks (by six places to 54th spot) in the Financial Times (FT) of London's Global MBA Top 100 released in January. This is the eighth consecutive year the school has been listed. The GSB programme has also been ranked the best-value-for-money MBA in the world - a title it held in 2011 and 2009. The business school first got a seat at the top 100 table in 2004, when it joined the … [Read more...]

Nothing for granted: Wilna Venter (far left) of UCT's Research Office and other representatives from African universities spent time at the NIH in 2010. Now Venter is taking part in a new series of NIH workshops. Grants from the US's National Institutes of Health (NIH) are sought-after treasures, but the application procedures are exacting. To improve the success rate and management of grant applications from Africa, the NIH is in 2012 funding a series of training workshops. Two of these will … [Read more...]

The Parents' Orientation events are meant to assure parents and care-givers that their children will be in good hands at UCT. All ears: Carl Herman, director of UCT's Admissions Office, addressed hundreds of out-of-town parents at this year's Parents' Orientation. Attentive: Throngs attended Parents' Orientations. This assurance carries more weight when it comes from a senior student like Mike Ramothwala, Students' Representative Council (vice-president: external). … [Read more...]

Two peas in a pod: Best friends and roommates Nomvuso Maitin and Anthea Thompson set up their new 'home' in Graça Machel Hall. There was never a doubt that they would choose the same university, they say. They've been best friends since grade 8 and shared the same classes at school; the KZN double act even went on to earn seven As each in matric. Actuarial science first-year student Nomvuso Maitin and BSc mathematical science first-year student Anthea Thompson now have yet another thing … [Read more...]

UCT welcomed thousands of students into its midst on 1 February as the bulk of the university's orientation programmes kicked off. Seeing red: Prof Marian Jacobs, clean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and orientation leaders Letisha Lalu (left) and Mampho Dlulane made sure first-year students received a warm welcome. Weighty matters: This morning, law students received a talk on UCT transformation as part of their orientation. After the humanities and commerce … [Read more...]

Skills improvement: UCT has launched a postgraduate diploma to improve the teaching abilities of health professionals. Health educators are now set to improve their skills, thanks to a postgraduate diploma in health professional education, launched by UCT in January. Organised by the Education Development Unit (EDU) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, the one-year programme (it can also be done over two years) sets out to strengthen participants' knowledge and skills in health professional … [Read more...]

Change: A river course in the Cederberg, Western Cape, heavily infested with Australian Acacias. Alien invasive plants cost South Africa R7 billion per year in lost ecosystem services. (Picture courtesy of Dean Impson) The only thing certain about the future of South Africa's ecosystems is that they are guaranteed to change.This came to light in a recent workshop titled <>Counting the Cost of Land Cover Change, held at the University of Pretoria and attended by a network of scientists, … [Read more...]

In the hot seat: A panel of experts gave feedback on COP17 at UCT recently. From left to right: Stef Raubenheimer, Prof Harald Winkler, Prof Guy Midgely, Prof Mark New, Jon Duncan, Anna Steynor, and Prof Richard Calland. Though there were a few watershed moments, COP17 was, in many ways, a success. So said a panel of experts at a feedback session titled What happened at COP17? Hear the inside story, held at UCT on 24 January. The panel discussion on the showcase 17th Conference of the Parties, … [Read more...]

Spreading her wings: UCT lecturer Raenette Taljaard has been appointed onto the Independent Electoral Commission. During a 15-minute meeting, one thing quickly becomes clear about Raenette Taljaard: she is one industrious person. She thinks fast, talks fast, walks fast, and does just everything else at the same brisk pace. This could explain why she holds so many positions in so many organisations - all with aplomb. Including, since late last year, that of part-time commissioner with the … [Read more...]

In training: Health practitioners from around Africa attended the first public mental health postgraduate course at UCT. Everyone agrees that capacity building is the answer to many of Africa's development problems. The Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health (CPMH), a joint initiative between UCT and Stellenbosch University, has put that into practice with the launch of what is Africa's first postgraduate training programme in public mental health. The masters' programme in public … [Read more...]

While UCT commerce students suffer a reputation around campus as being somewhat stodgy, Wednesday morning's Orientation programme suggested that that image may be undeserved. Campus tour: A commerce orientation leader leads first-years on their first official walkabout around UCT's Upper Campus. Great escape: Students Representative Council (SRC) president Insaaf Isaacs and deputy vice-chancellor Professor Crain Soudien head for the exit as the fun hits the fan in Beattie … [Read more...]

Incoming UCT first-year students today had the vacation cobwebs blown away by a spectacular case of the Monday blues. The blues: Orientation leaders gave first-years a roaring welcome to the Faculty of Humanities. Rapt: There was plenty to take in for new students. Jammie Plaza buzzed as blue-clad Faculty of Humanities orientation leaders (OLs) treated its first group of freshers to a roaring welcome on the drizzly morning of 23 January. As the largest faculty at the … [Read more...]

Global voice: In December some 40 million listeners tuned in to a BBC World Service interview with Prof Valerie Mizrahi on TB research. She's touted as one of the leading TB researchers in the world. Which is why the Wellcome Collection, a UK-based museum, flew UCT's Professor Valerie Mizhari to London last year to speak on the role of South African researchers in TB and HIV research. In December this interview was broadcast on the BBC World Service to some 40 million listeners worldwide. … [Read more...]