Postgraduate Diploma in Energy Leadership

Wits Business School launched the African Energy Leadership Centre (AELC) in 2017, the first of its kind in Africa. The AELC aims to address the issues of energy shortages in Africa as well as the skills deficit in an industry which is of vital importance to economic growth on the continent. A hub of teaching and research, the focus of the AELC is on the latest thinking and best practice in energy leadership.

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Programme Information

Applications Open
01 May 2024
Applications Close
30 September 2024
Study mode
Full Time
Duration
1 year
Fees
R81 240.00
Academic Category
Specialist Degree
Contact
Fees are subject to review in 2025
Course Overview

The three main areas of the African Energy Leadership Centre are: Postgraduate and Executive Education, Research & Thought Leadership Networking, and Professional Development  The AELC offers a specialised Master’s degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Energy Leadership. Both programmes will provide you with a solid foundation in all aspects of energy leadership in order to make you a more confident, decisive and effective leader in this sector.

Core Courses
  1. Energy Value Chains
    This course introduces energy demand as it relates to the primary energy carriers and their value chains including concepts and units used in measuring energy carriers.
  2. Energy and Environmental Sustainability
    This course interrogates decision-making trade-offs between energy carriers and environmental sustainability within a context of climate change, international market interventions and changing consumer preferences.
  3. Leadership Fundamentals
    This course gives a broad overview of leadership and allows leaders an opportunity to apply the basic concepts of teams and teamwork in practice. It includes leadership theory and mindsets that determine effective leadership.
  4. Energy, Finance, Business Strategy and Investment
    This course introduces corporate and project financing structures – together with risks and enabling contracts in the context of business strategy. Candidates will undertake financial modelling.
Stream A: Energy Stream
  1. Energy Geography, Geopolitics and Macroeconomics
    This course examines and evaluates energy supply and demand from a global perspective. It reviews the historical development of energy resource endowments and international trade as influenced by strategic, geopolitical, economic, and environmental concerns and ambitions.
  2. Strategic Management of Energy Innovation
    This course equips candidates with strategic management knowledge and skills to address new and emerging technologies for extracting, transporting, and delivering energy services to customers.
  3. Ethics and Corporate Governance
    This course provides candidates with an introduction to sound corporate ethics and corporate governance including systems of management and procurement in relation to energy investments.
  4. Talent Management Fundamentals
    This course provides candidates with an introduction to local and international best practices in the field of energy talent management.
  5. Introduction to Energy Policy and Regulation
    This course introduces a broad conceptualisation of regulatory policy and economic regulation. Themes include regulatory dispensations for energy infrastructure and access to energy infrastructure markets.
  6. Energy Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development in Africa
    This course introduces the theoretical and practical issues associated with energy entrepreneurship and developing energy enterprises in Africa.
  7. Energy Decarbonisation Fundamentals
    This course provides candidates with an understanding of the primary methods used to reduce carbon emissions from energy carriers. It is designed to equip students with insights into transforming energy systems into lower emission systems.
  8. Introduction to Systems Thinking in Energy Environments
    This course provides students with an overview of systems thinking within energy environments that require students to see and make connections between solutions, systems, and society.

Textbooks are available on www.mind-matters.co.za.

Stream B: Electricity Stream
  1. Electricity Supply Industry Fundamentals, Policy and Regulation
    This course provides an overview of the core functions, operational principles, and practices, of the Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) and Electricity Distribution Industry (EDI). It includes a review of the high-level policy and regulatory requirements applicable to each segment of the electricity market.
  2. Technical Fundamentals of Electricity Power Systems
    This course provides an overview of the basic technical and engineering functions of power systems, at an appropriate level of technical detail for policymakers and utility executives. It develops a foundational and contextual understanding of existing and emerging power sector technologies and system integration issues.
  3. Energy Sector Governance, Policy Design, and Implementation
    This course provides an overview of electricity supply industry policy making processes in SA and the implementation thereof, including the fiscal consequences of various policy options (state owned companies and privately owned companies) with a view towards financial sustainability for the industry.
  4. Fundamentals of Utility Business Management and Operational Efficiency
    This course focuses on developing an essential understanding of the key principles and good management practices that drive business sustainability of electricity utility businesses. This includes a focus on utility revenue management and collection, as well as an overview of utility licensing conditions.
  5. Fundamentals of Utility Oversight
    This course develops an understanding of the fundamentals of policymaker oversight practices for electricity utilities. It covers utility revenue management and collection, utility asset management, utility ring-fencing, and utility performance benchmarking. It supports policy decision making with respect to long term sustainability of electricity utilities.
  6. Tariff Methodologies and Tariff Design
    This double course examines the fundamentals of utility tariff methodologies, and the various types of rates and tariff structures that can be employed to charge customers.  It covers revenue requirements, base generation tariffs and Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) calculations, cost of supply principles, tariff orders and case studies.
  7. Power Market Organization, Restructuring and Transformation
    This course develops a foundational understanding of how power market’s function and can be organized, reformed, and ultimately transformed.  Candidates are exposed to concepts such as vertical, horizontal unbundling, competition across various market segments, and the role of privatisation, and good practices for governance during transitions.

Textbooks are available on www.mind-matters.co.za.

CRM Enquiry
Application process

How to apply to Wits

Online application

Complete the Online Application form

Pay a non-refundable application fee of R200

Download the Management-Part-3 form

Processing

Upload certified copies of ALL your tertiary qualifications- Degree certificate(s) and Academic transcript(s)

Upload current CV

Admission test - currently R950. (Please note: only shortlisted candidates will be invited to write the WBS Admission test)

Foreign Qualifications
Applicants who hold a foreign qualification need to send their qualifications to the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) for evaluation before applying to WBS. Visit saqa.org.za or email saqainfo@saqa.org.za Alternatively, you can call: 012 431 5070 or the helpdesk on: 0860 111 673

Deposit

A R15 000 minimum deposit will be required upon acceptance of a place on the programme

Words from our Alumni

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Fundiswa Sibisi

PDM-DB 2024

Completing my Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Business at WBS was a transformative journey, providing me with valuable insights into the dynamic landscape of digital business.

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Dr Pulane Modiha

PhD – 2021

A very rewarding and demanding experience that provided a rare opportunity to thoroughly research the topic of executive management.

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Jerard Scorgie

MAP - 2009, PDM - 2013, MBA - 2014

The defining moment for me was not so much that we were able to turn the business around, but rather the ability to practically apply skills learned while studying. Having business acumen and skills is one thing, practically applying them and realising business shifts is a new experience altogether.

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Nomusa Mazonde

PhD - 2016

Passing my PhD and graduating was a defining and memorable moment for me. A great sense of accomplishment, it was both the ‘Mama, I did it’ feeling and the ‘coming of age’ feeling which came with the sudden realisation that I could do that and more.

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Affiong Williams

PDM - 2007

A defining moment in my career has been the realisation that my purpose as an entrepreneur is far reaching, not just to create jobs and wealth, but also be a leading example of charting a path others can follow, especially women.

Vuyisile Zondi

Vuyisile Zondi

PDM - 2016

I feel honoured and proud to be a young entrepreneur, to create employment for other young people, and to deliver value through my business Corium Skincare. My entire life shifted the day I realised that I can actually do it, and I went for it!

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Mohammed Majam

MAP - 2008, MBA - 2016

That confidence to believe that my age won’t define me has stuck with me and opened doors in my career I could never have imagined. I ended up finishing as the top student for the year and have never looked back.

Boitumelo Mojapelo

Boitumelo Mojapelo

MBA - 2021

I made lifelong connections and my MBA really enhanced my brand as a professional.

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Ewen Cameron

PDM - 2011 & MBA - 2014

My WBS qualifications gave me the self-confidence to tackle tough work and life situations with a clear and open mindset.

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Kenneth Chatambudza

MMFI - 2023

I was very happy with the way the MMFI programme was structured. The programme was very challenging, and it demanded a lot of focus and dedication. It has provided a powerful foundation for my career aspirations.

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Lebogang Ramokgopa

PDBA - 2019 & MBA - 2023

I have developed a sharper business acumen, enhanced my leadership skills and honed my abilities in management.

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Dr Caesar J.M. Mwangi

MBA – 1995

My MBA from WBS deepened my understanding of business and made me aware of the many possibilities available for me to make a difference in any environment.

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Khanyisile Kweyama

PDM - 1996

My job is about creating harmony… It’s about coming up with solutions, keeping your eye on the bigger picture, and the often requires a lot of patience and putting aside your differences

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Nhlanhla Dlamini

PDM - 2006

My PDM at Wits Business School was probably my most memorable academic year of all, and that includes Harvard and Oxford... You were working with people very different from you, yet you were still expected to produce quality outputs

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Gail Kelly

MBA - 1986

My MBA was a new and exciting period in my life because it opened my thinking to the crucial areas of accounting, finance, marketing and operations management

Disclaimer: Cancellation of programmes by WBS

WBS is entitled to cancel or change the date of delivery of a programme without notice and for any reason without incurring any liability to individuals who have applied or are enrolled on the programme or any funders of such individuals (“participants” or “funders of participants”).

Without derogating from the aforesaid, and insofar as it possible, WBS will provide the participants or funders of the participants with 30 (thirty days) days written notice of any cancellation or changes in the dates of delivery of the programme. 

Insofar as the programme is cancelled or rescheduled prior to delivery of the programme then in that event the participants and funders of the participants will not be charged the full programme fees.