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To become a top entrepreneurial university in Africa is a strategic direction adopted by CUT's Council some years ago. Various consultations took place, leading to establishing an "Entrepreneurship Centre of Excellence" called CUT Entrepreneurship Development Unit (CUT-EDU) in 2021.
CUT-EDU emphasises entrepreneurial scholarship, theory and applications through entrepreneurship teaching, course and curricular development. The unit utilises innovative education and technology to deliver first-class formal and informal education and training programmes in entrepreneurship and related fields.
Objectives of the Unit
CUT-EDU range of programmes are aimed at achieving the following objectives:
- Making entrepreneurship part of the fabric of CUT so that the university can make a dynamic contribution to sustainable socio-economic development in South Africa, Africa and possibly beyond.
- Establishing a dedicated academic unit at CUT with the same mandate of academic departments but with a singular focus on entrepreneurship.
- Creating educational and support programmes for student and staff entrepreneurship development at CUT.
- Working in close collaboration with CUTis and Idea Gym in developing and delivering short courses for skilling the unemployed (both youth and adult) and existing and budding entrepreneurs to transform good ideas into successful businesses.
- Providing formal entrepreneurship education programmes up to the doctoral level to produce entrepreneurship experts locally and internationally.
- Steering CUT in its strategic direction of becoming a model entrepreneurial university in Africa.
- In collaboration with CUTis and other CUT entities, undertake various income generation activities, including business consulting, contract research, and running management/ business-related or bespoke short courses on demand.
- Conducting innovative research into entrepreneurship.
Strategic Partners
The list of our strategic partners keeps evolving. As of now, our key partner is the Coventry University International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship (ICTE). We will also collaborate with Aalen University of Applied Sciences in Germany and more than one university with a solid entrepreneurial focus in Ireland and Scotland.
Programmes Offered
The following programs are on offer from 2022.
- Doctor of Philosophy in Management Sciences with various specialisations.
- Master of Philosophy in Management Sciences with various specialisations
- Master of Management Sciences in Entrepreneurial Management.
- Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurial Management.
- Advanced Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation.
- Short learning program in entrepreneurship
The Master of Management Sciences in Entrepreneurial Management is our flagship centre programme and will start from 2022. This first-ever structured master's to be offered in CUT aims to serve mature learners and students who want to pursue their studies in specialised entrepreneurial skills. The programme is designed to be provided in a blended learning mode. The program will draw on international academics in the offering of modules. Modules will also be offered as stand-alone credit-bearing short courses. There is a mini-research project component.
International Programmes
The Unit will offer PQM qualifications internationally, starting in Ghana.
- Advanced Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation.
- Advanced Diploma in Applied Management.
- Advanced Diploma in Human Resources Management.
- Postgraduate Diploma in Project Management.
- MPhil in Management Sciences (all specialisations).
- PhD in Management Sciences (all specialisations).
Entrepreneurship skills development programs
From 2023, the Unit will offer a non-credit bearing entrepreneurship short course at NQF level 6 for all CUT registered students and the general public. CUT-EDU also plans to provide soon SETA registered entrepreneurship short courses at lower NQF levels (1-5).
Research
No academic unit can exist without engaging in research. The main research outputs of the team will emerge from the research projects of students in the Master of Management Sciences in Entrepreneurial Management, the MPhil and PhD Management Sciences.
The Unit will continue collaborating with the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies (CEES) to organise the prestigious International Conference on Entrepreneurship Development (ICED). The ICED conference is an important vehicle to address entrepreneurship challenges across the globe. It will generate substantial outputs in publications and conference proceedings of topics directly linked to entrepreneurship, benefiting society.