UCT students learn exotic leadership skills

Empowered: These UCT students have finished a leadership programme with students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US.

UCT students recently joined their counterparts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US to complete a two-week leadership programme.

The 22 engineering students mixed and mingled with 30 American students in Cape Town, as part of the LeaderShape programme, an initiative of the UW-Madison's College of Engineering.

LeaderShape is hosted annually by the college, and this year marked the first time it was staged outside their premises. It is an interactive, energising experience that builds leadership skills, with six days of self-discovery and learning from practical experiences that build leadership concepts and abilities.

The programme, organised by Professor Duncan Fraser in the Department of Chemical Engineering, included a project that helped students put their skills to use. They visited the Edith Stephens Wetland Park where they got into the vlei to remove the water hyacinth, picked up rubbish, weeded and promulgated indigenous plants.