Absa Bank has announced that University of
Zululand is receiving R5 million scholarship funds to empower students to
pursue their studies in commerce, humanities, engineering, science and
technology for the current academic year.
The Absa Scholarship Fund forms part of the
Education and Skills Development pillar of the bank’s Shared Growth strategy
through which it has undertaken to invest R1.4 billion in education and skills
training until 2018. Shared Growth strategy has three pillars namely Education
and Skills Development, Enterprise Development and Financial Inclusion, which
aims to create shared value for communities and stakeholders.
Faisal Mkhize, Absa Provincial Managing
Executive in KwaZulu-Natal, said "University education unlocks
opportunities that can change the lives of young people and the future of
KwaZulu-Natal. This is an expression of our Shared Growth commitment to help
realise the province’s potential and contribute to its long term economic
growth. This investment to University of Zululand has been made possible by the
hard work and dedication of colleagues in our business and I am proud of their
commitment to making a visible difference in the lives of thousands of young
people.”
Speaking at the handover ceremony at the
University of Zululand, Vice-Chancellor Professor Xolile Mtose says: “Absa’s
funds will assist us in closing off the short-fall in respect to assisting
undergraduate students. This is a generous contribution our deserving students.
While we have enjoyed a relationship with Absa over the years, this is an
investment to create an enabling environment for our students to succeed
academically.”
Chairman of the University of Zululand
Foundation Dupreez Vilakazi, said: “Absa understands the needs of our students
especially at undergraduate level. We will be good stewards of this gift and
nurture the relationship with the bank.”
University of Zululand will use a
combination of academic performance and financial need, to identify qualifying
students and disburse the funds. Many of the qualifying students either have
very limited financial resources or fall within the category of students whose
parents or guardians can only afford to pay a portion of the required
university fees. Successful applicants will also benefit from the leadership
and psycho-social support offered by the programme.
The Education and Skills Development
commitment from Absa also includes the support of about 34 Technical Vocational
Education and Training (TVET) colleges as part of the Department of Higher
Education’s Adopt a TVET programme; Strategic University support, focused on research and capacity
development initiatives; School Governing Body training in partnership with the
Department of Basic Education, and ReadytoWork, a flagship free skills
development programme to give young people range of work, money, people and
entrepreneurial skills to enhance their employment and self-employment
prospects.
Faisal says: “In order to achieve financial
inclusion as part of our Shared Growth Strategy, we have a set of retail banking
products that include a competitively designed student loan scheme and a free
youth banking product with a comprehensive education and youth services.”
Posts
