{"id":20552,"date":"2013-06-20T16:37:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T14:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/post-graduate-students-score-scholarships-worth-r400-000\/"},"modified":"2013-06-20T16:37:40","modified_gmt":"2013-06-20T14:37:40","slug":"post-graduate-students-score-scholarships-worth-r400-000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/post-graduate-students-score-scholarships-worth-r400-000\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-graduate students score scholarships worth R400 000"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday 18 June Tata Africa handed over 13 scholarships worth R400 000 to post-graduate students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.<\/p>\n

It is the first time NMMU<\/a> has received the prestigious post-graduate scholarships from the Indian conglomerate, which has since 2006 awarded 194 Tata Africa scholarships worth nearly R10-million. In addition to NMMU<\/a>, recipients are at Wits, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and further afield in Ghana and Kenya.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica is the rising star in the world,\u201d said Tata Africa Managing Director Raman Dhawan, addressing recipients at the handover ceremony on Tuesday. \u201cThe best in the world are about to set up shop here. Don\u2019t be pessimistic about anything. You, the youth, will take this continent further.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Tata was investing in Africa\u2019s future by ploughing into education and skills. He said the \u201cone string attached\u201d was that scholarship recipients must use their skills \u201cto give back to the community\u201d.
\nNMMU recipients included three doctoral, five masters and five honours students, who received scholarships of R50 000 (doctoral), R30 000 (masters) and R25 000 (honours). Their fields of study include business and economic sciences, applied language studies, nursing, geosciences, corporate communication, chemistry, biomedical technology, IT Communication, microbiology and education.<\/p>\n

Deputy-Vice Chancellor: Research and Engagement Prof Thoko Mayekiso said one the strategic priorities of NMMU\u2019s Vision 2020 was to create and sustain an environment that encouraged, supported and rewarded a vibrant research and innovation culture. \u201cThese scholarships will make a meaningful contribution to the achievement of this priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn basically all higher education systems around the world, the importance of post-graduate education and training for the emerging knowledge societies and economies has been recognized\u2026 Knowledge production has become a strategic resource necessary to gain or keep competitive advantages.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the scholarship recipients was MSc medical microbiology student Kwanele Gqunta, who is the first member of his family to attend university. Watching his parents battling to help fund his under-graduate studies, the Soweto-on-Sea student was determined to succeed, passing his BSc degree cum laude and then getting his Honours research project published in an accredited journal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very privileged to be selected as a recipient,\u201d said 23-year-old Gqunta. \u201cI want to inspire other youth in the township by telling them that through hard work, you can attain whatever you want in life,\u201d said Gqunta, who plans to complete his PhD in medical microbiology, and then use his research and skills to make a contribution to society. \u201cTata is turning my dreams into reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tata<\/p>\n

Thrilled to receive Tata Africa scholarships are Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University post-graduate students (from left) Brendaline Plaatjies (education), Lwazi Cembi (Information Technology and Communication) and Janet Bell (nursing). Picture: Leonette Bower<\/p>\n

\"Kwanele<\/p>\n

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Deputy-Vice Chancellor: Research and Engagement Prof Thoko Mayekiso (left) and Tata Africa Managing Director Raman Dhawan (right) present MSc medical microbiology student Kwanele Gqunta with a R30 000 Tata Africa scholarship. Picture: Leonette Bower<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday 18 June Tata Africa handed over 13 scholarships worth R400 000 to post-graduate students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. It is the first time NMMU has received the prestigious post-graduate scholarships from the Indian conglomerate, which has since 2006 awarded 194 Tata Africa scholarships worth nearly R10-million. In addition to NMMU, recipients […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1289,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-20552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-mype","8":"tag-port-elizabeth-2","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}