You are in : Education > Bursaries and Scholarships

Scholarship

R6.5 million in scholarships for business degree

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:54

With mock exams for Matriculants well underway, learners are feeling the pressure to secure their futures for next year and beyond. However only 12% of Matriculants have the means to advance to tertiary education in South Africa, a recent study has found.

For many previously disadvantaged youth, funding remains a high barrier and urgent action needs to be taken in order to increase access to university level education. One tertiary education model offers up a dynamic solution that may set a precedent for years to come.

Cape Town's Tertiary School in Business Administration (TSiBA), is offering scholarships to the value of R6,5 million to 120 new students for entry into their Foundation Year in 2009.

Students who successfully complete this year will be offered a further scholarship to study towards TSiBA's Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) degree in entrepreneurial leadership.

Access is not the only issue bedevilling higher education in South Africa though. Once entering university, many young people are not prepared for the demands of higher education.

Statistics indicate that 50% of students drop out in their first year and only 22% graduate in the minimum time. TSiBA has also taken this into account.

"At TSiBA we focus on quality and individual attention. All our students are connected to mentors and life skills and workplace learning are an integral part of our comprehensive curriculum," comments Leigh Meinert, Managing Director of TSiBA.

"Our strict entry requirements and strong academic support helps us to ensure that students get valuable and business-relevant education where they may not have otherwise been able to afford it," Meinert adds.

This innovative education model will see its first students graduate with their undergraduate degrees in business this year.

"We work together closely with our corporate partners and our first set of students who will graduate at the end of this year are currently working on industry practical projects in leading firms such as British American Tobacco SA, JP Morgan, Oceana and Media 24," says Meinert.

Furthermore TSiBA's business degree trains students in entrepreneurship and leadership so that graduates are not only prepared to work in a corporate environment, they can also create businesses and jobs.

In a country where unemployment is as high as 45%, innovative models like TSiBA are truly igniting opportunity.