UCT scoop MACE Awards

UCT took top honours for its website and schools recruitment programme at the Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) Excellence Awards, which were presented at a Gala dinner on 16 October in Stellenbosch.

UCT also took the runner-up spot for advertising campaigns at the event.

The university's recruitment drive included the publication of Yizani, a student lifestyle magazine aimed at high school learners, and a DVD about student life at the university, as well as several radio commercials and a Facebook campaign on the social networking website. Adverts on Facebook earned over 3.6 million page impressions. The university also established a presence on the magazine Seventeen's website.

The UCT website is one of the university's chief marketing tools, and the main port of call for anyone looking for the institution online. It also collects and presents news concerning the university, and advertises events. The site is database-driven to store a vast amount of information and has the ability to host multiple websites, each with their own domain name and search facility. The site also allows for access-controlled content, such as confidential documents that are only available to staff.

These awards are given annually to higher education practitioners in recognition of excellence in the communication and development fields.

MACE was formed out of Unitech, which rebranded itself and expanded to include colleges of Further Education and Training (FET). MACE now serves as an umbrella organisation for marketing, communication, fundraising, student recruitment and alumni practitioners in higher and further education in Southern Africa. The new corporate identity, featuring a red, green and black logo, was launched on the first day of the 2008 Congress.