(AGENPARL) – Tue 25 March 2025 PRESS STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
25 March 2025
CUT to confer Honorary Doctorate to William Hlakoane
The Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) will be conferring the degree of Honorary Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering (honoris causa) in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment, and Information Technology (FEBIT), to William Hlakoane, a Mechanical Engineer by trade with an MBA from Milpark Business School, and the current Denel Group Chief Operating Officer.
The CUT Council, on the recommendation of the Honorary Awards and Honorary Degrees Committee and the CUT Senate, concurred to confer the Honorary Doctorate to Hlakoane at a graduation ceremony which will be held at CUT’s Bloemfontein Campus on 26 March 2025.
Hailing from the small Free State town of Thabong, Welkom, Hlakoane has always been an inquisitive child. “As a child I grew up fiddling with a little bit of everything. I enjoyed making cars. You know, playing with those cars that you do with wire. I think I would have been the first person to invent a car which is made of aluminium or zinc plates. We would take home those aluminium cans and use them to cut them off and make cars out of them, like make it a real car. I never knew about it, but I started developing some of these things when I was still young out of curiosity. So, it was no surprise that I ended up in engineering at a later stage of my life,” he said.
Having obtained his Mechanical Engineering qualification from CUT, Hlakoane says the announcement brought him honour and emotional joy. “I was in tears. It made me think back, of where I started, where I come from, and how I ended up here. So, yeah, I was really in tears. Thinking ack on the relationship that I have with the institution, from the good old days to today. All the things that I have achieved throughout my career up to today. Out of a million of the things that I want, this is one that I will treasure, and my kids will treasure going forward,” said Hlakoane ecstatically.
Hlakoane will receive his Honorary Doctorate on 26 March 2025 during the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology ceremony of the CUT 2025 Autumn graduations.
Caption: CUT will be conferring the degree of Honorary Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering (honoris causa) to William Hlakoane.
More about CUT
CUT is the foremost higher education institution in the heartland of South Africa, dedicated to quality education and training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. CUT boasts pockets of excellence, including a premier hotel school and leading research and innovation platforms, i.e., world-class 3D printing technology through medical product development.
For more information about CUT visit http://www.cut.ac.za
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