Ten students from UKZN’s Science and Engineering Access programme have been awarded AECI bursaries worth R792 000.
The recipients, disadvantaged students from KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast who achieved excellent results in UKZN’s Science and Engineering Access programme last year, were selected from various applicants.
AECI Group Community Development Specialist, Ms Nicole Solomons, said the Trust focused on the development of young people living in areas in which AECI operated.
Solomons said through the efforts of the AECI Community Education and Development Trust and partnerships such as the current one with UKZN, AECI hopes to achieve a sustainable impact in affected communities.
AECI Group Human Capital Executive, Ms Khosi Matshitse, said his company had a dual approach.
While we aim to reach out to the many parts of South Africa, we also give special attention to our immediate neighbours in the communities in which we operate our 14 companies,’ Matshitse said.
She congratulated the bursary students and encouraged them to use the opportunity and make a success of their studies. ‘We need you and the country needs young people like you, so apply yourselves in your studies, be diligent and don’t lose this opportunity,’ she said.
Among the beneficiaries is Ms Lungisa Tenza, who is currently enrolled in the Science and Engineering Access Programme and working towards a BSc at UKZN.
Through this financial assistance I will be the first in my family to obtain a bachelor’s degree - without this bursary I would not have had the funds to pay for my university fees.
I will grab this opportunity with both hands and when I represent something, I give of my best,’ she said.
Dean of Teaching and Learning at the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, Professor Bala Pillay, acknowledged AECI’s generous donation. ‘This partnership with AECI is about the promotion of education and academic excellence to build leaders who will shape the future of science, the engineering industry and the broader community,’ he said.
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