Graduating with a qualification in engineering is difficult enough at the best of times, but the University of Cape Town (UCT) has shared the story of one particularly inspiring student who overcame overwhelming odds to complete his engineering studies.
As a child, Nkululeko Dlamini attended a poorly resourced school east of Johannesburg, where he was part of a feeding scheme. When he came to UCT, he struggled with English, and the death of his mother was a huge setback. Without financial resources, he was sure he would never graduate. Then one day the third-year student was found sleeping in an engineering lab – thin, hungry and penniless with his meagre belongings crammed into a small backpack.
At that point, the university’s faculty of engineering and the built environment (EBE) put its Student in Distress Fund to good use in helping him put his life back together and complete his studies, with the personal help of academic mentor Ernesto Ismail. UCT points out that sometimes it’s a fee deficit as small as R6000 that stands between a student being able to graduate and stalling at the finish line, and it is specifically for cases like this that the fund was established.
Dlamini, who now works for a state owned national energy utility entity, is grateful to the faculty for everything and for the big role it played in his life. “Today I am the person I am because the faculty believed in me. This is the beginning of my career and I will grab the opportunity with both hands and ensure that I will continue developing myself to become one of the greatest leaders in the country,” he said.
The Student in Distress Fund plays an important role in the engineering faculty, according to the dean, Professor Alison Lewis. “It might not be a huge amount of money, but it helps us deal with cases that might fall through the cracks and we are able to intervene in a flexible way,” she stated.
Last year the fund assisted 76 engineering students with their individual needs, at a cost of R383 000. Some aid was provided as a once-off, while other funding assisted students over a longer period, says faculty marketing and communications manager, Mary Hilton, who administers the programme.
Funds were used for fee deficits, laptops, stationery, books, transport, rent and vouchers for toiletries, medicine and food.
Hilton added: “This year we bought seven laptops for students who were living off campus and found it difficult to access information during the student protests. Several Zimbabwean students were unable to get money out of Zimbabwe, and we assisted with rent and food. All the students who have been assisted are eager to give back to the fund once they are on their feet and earning money.”
The faculty relies on 21 regular benefactors in alumni, friends and staff for the funding. They also received a donation from industry and R100 000 from the Vice-Chancellor’s Challenge Fund. The Student in Distress Fund was launched in 2015 with a fundraising campaign, supported by the faculty’s student council, which raised R6 600 from fellow students. Staff and alumni also assisted and the fund was able to help its first six students.
Hilton provides a backdrop: “With the poor economic climate, the changes in the criteria for NSFAS funding and family circumstances that change, there are a number of EBE students who find themselves with no money for food, accommodation, or just basic necessities.”
Two other EBE students who were assisted through the faculty’s fund also graduated this year. The graduation ceremonies took place between 3 and 10 April 2018.
For more information contact Angelique Botha, University of Cape Town, +27 (0)21 650 2583, angelique.botha@uct.ac.za, www.uct.ac.za
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