The Central University of Technology officially launched its "Entrepreneurship Centre of Excellence" called CUT Entrepreneurship Development Unit (CUT-EDU) on Friday, 3 June 2022. The unit will offer post-graduate studies, including MPhil in Coursework or Research up to a doctoral level in entrepreneurship management and monitoring and evaluation for the 2023 academic year.

The CUT Entrepreneurship Development Unit is an exciting, and significant programme which will not only benefit the institution and its participants but will help the province, which is working towards promoting wealth creation and equitable wealth distribution for economic transformation.

“The government support has been meaningful to the success of our efforts in conceiving innovative solutions from which our communities stand to benefit. This launch is a living example of what we want to achieve with our ideas. We welcome the participation of our banking sector, Mangaung Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Black Management Forum, Free State Legislature, and Provincial Government. We believe that this centre will bring the university, government and industry together in planning and investing resources collaboratively to drive the implementation of entrepreneurship education forward in this Province,” said CUT acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Alfred Ngowi.

Delivering the Keynote address, MEC for the Free State Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism & Environmental Affairs (DESTEA), Makalo Mohale, stated that CUT’s endeavours in knowledge and human capital development should be aligned to improving the lives of the people of the Free State. “The successful launch of this critical centre places the Central University of Technology in a favourable position to take advantage of new opportunities and speed up implementation of plans for their Vision 2030. And this launch must be seen as an opportune moment to dig deeper into things that the university and the region develop a greater appreciation of the challenges facing higher education and CUT’s envisaged contribution to the province. It is my hope that this unit will create a critical strategic position which will lead the university’s academic position into the future of innovation and entrepreneurship education for higher education in this country,” said MEC Mohale.

The CUT-EDU programmes equip participants with skills to start and grow businesses and become self-dependent while producing astute entrepreneurship consultants, educators, scholars, and legislators. CUT’s Faculty of Management Sciences has some renowned entrepreneurship experts with extensive entrepreneurship research portfolios and teaching experience who will be sharing this expertise with would-be entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in both the formal and informal sectors, at various stages of their business development, from start-up to high-impact growth.

“Our hope is that CUT-EDU will graduate into an entrepreneurial hub which will form one of the cornerstones that will fill into CUT’s vision 2030. CUT is not for us, it’s for you, this university belongs to you and through the creation of this unit, we would like to extend a hand of support towards the province, the municipality, and the community at large. This is our attempt to contribute towards creating, supporting, and developing entrepreneurs to the benefit of creating employment and the growth of the Free State’s economy,” stated Prof. Albert Strydom, Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences.

In addition, these programmes will emphasise entrepreneurial scholarship, theory, and applications through entrepreneurship teaching and research. The unit will also offer short-learning programmes, especially for young people and women to use innovative education and technology in entrepreneurship and other socio-economic development-related fields.

WATCH: Launch on Facebook

Captions

1. DESTEA MEC, Honourable Makalo Mohale and CUT acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Alfred Ngowi, unveiling the plaque at the CUT Entrepreneurship Development Unit (CUT-EDU) launch.

 2. Working alongside government and various stakeholders CUT-EDU is a continuation of the university’s efforts in conceiving innovative solutions from which our communities stand to benefit. Attendees at the CUT-EDU launch.