This reflects a pass rate of 94%, typical of the historical performance of the One Year Diploma (OYD) in Packaging Technology. The top student for the 2021 academic year was Rosalind Dos Santos (Northern Region), who achieved 90.27%. There were also 10 cum laudes (>80%) and 12 distinctions (75% to 79%).
‘These results bear testimony to the dedicated work of the academic and administrative staff at IPSA, who ensure a seamless operation and excellence in service delivery of the association’s bouquet of programmes,’ remarks national education officer, Kishan Singh.
‘IPSA’s OYD in Packaging Technology, introduced in the early 1980s, has gained a recognition of excellence as an employment prerequisite in the South African packaging industry,’ Kishan notes. ‘Over the years, the OYD syllabus and textbook have been carefully edited and adapted to stay abreast of global technologies. For instance, the past 10 years have seen updates to management principles and practices, decoration systems and food packaging systems to align with modern packaging trends. In addition, increased emphasis is now placed on environmental sustainability, especially the challenges related to the recovery and reuse of post-consumer packaging as is now governed by Section18 of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act. Today, the OYD also includes a more formal approach to ISO9001:2015 certification systems and quality management, introducing principles of the Lean Six Sigma method.’
Since 2014, the OYD has been endorsed by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO), confirming that course content, the textbook, assessment protocols, marking and moderation systems, lecturer profiles, online training modus operandi, student certification and programme data integrity all meet WPO standards.
Rosalind Dos Santos, group energy manager for Mpact and the top student in 2021, says: ‘The OYD course was a wonderful overview of the packaging industry and closed a number of knowledge gaps that I had on production, manufacturing and printing, as well as other packaging forms that are not made by the Mpact Group. Understanding the different packaging formats is also of increasing importance as brand managers, brand owners and packaging purchasers are starting to look at the pros and cons of different packaging types, especially on the environmental side. The OYD course gives one the tools and information to consider these options and then research and find more information on the best way forward for multiple parties, companies and/or players in different areas of the packaging supply chain. The project, while a lot of work, was particularly good for me to take a packaging idea from concept to the point of implementation. I am very glad that I completed the OYD course.’
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