Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyCPUT

Cape Peninsula University of Technology, known as CPUT, is a public university of technology in the Western Cape and the only institution of its kind in the province. It was formed on 1 January 2005 when Cape Technikon and Peninsula Technikon merged, although its roots reach back to 1920. The university describes itself as career-focused, with more than 70 programmes and a student body of over 35 000.

Teaching is face to face on campus. CPUT states plainly that it does not run distance learning programmes, and any online or blended teaching is decided faculty by faculty and communicated by the department concerned.

The university has five campuses. Bellville, off Robert Sobukwe Road, is the administrative hub and is home to the applied sciences, engineering, and health and wellness sciences faculties. District Six, in the Cape Town CBD, hosts business and informatics and design. Mowbray focuses on teacher education and sport management, Granger Bay houses the Cape Town Hotel School and maritime studies, and Wellington in the Boland offers applied sciences, business and education, with Education taught in Afrikaans there.

Study is organised into six faculties: Applied Sciences, Business and Management Sciences, Education, Engineering and the Built Environment, Health and Wellness Sciences, and Informatics and Design. Qualifications run from higher certificates and diplomas through advanced diplomas, Bachelor of Engineering Technology and Bachelor of Education degrees, honours degrees, the Postgraduate Certificate in Education and postgraduate diplomas, up to research master's and doctoral degrees. Some diplomas are also offered as extended curriculum programmes, which spread the first-year work over two years. Short courses are offered as well. Some engineering qualifications carry Engineering Council of South Africa accreditation.

CPUT does not take applications for a second-semester intake. Applying is done online only, costs nothing, and each applicant may choose up to three programmes. Entry depends on the subjects, marks and admission point score each programme sets, and final acceptance rests on final Grade 12 results. Recognition of prior learning is available for some applicants.

Annual fees are paid in ten monthly instalments from February to November. South African students who qualify can apply for NSFAS funding, and the university also points students towards bursaries, loans and scholarships.