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Absa
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Absa is a substantial sport sponsor at NMMU as well as being a sponsor of student orientation at the University. Absa sponsors the NMMU Colors Awards Ceremony, which honors sporting and cultural achievements and also the stadium, which was used by the NMMU 1st team Rugby Club for its practices and matches. Netball, hockey and cricket are also all sponsored by Absa. Absa has also upgraded the existing Absa Computer Laboratory on the South Campus and established a second laboratory on the 2nd Avenue Campus.
The Small Business Development Initiative at NMMU is also sponsored by Absa. The bank funds selected small business projects in terms of training in entrepreneurship skills, vocational skills training, mentoring and aftercare, initial capital costs and all initiatives that are geared at creating sustainable business and jobs for previously
unemployed people.
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Absa support hockey at NMMU |
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The Absa Foundation
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| The Absa Science and Mathematics Information Technology in Schools (SMIS) is an initiative aimed at the upskilling of key educators in selected schools to increase their ability to teach Maths, Science and Technology (MST) subjects. The programme also influences the number of learners pursuing MST subjects at senior secondary and tertiary level. This is carried out via a combination of classroom facilitation, workshops and materials provision in a cluster of schools in the Port Elizabeth area.
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Teaching science in classrooms thanks to the Absa Foundation |
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The Ford Foundation
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| The Phulisa Project, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, trains the next generation of transformed academic staff at NMMU. The intention of the project is to invest in the academic potential of staff members and ensure that they emerge as future leaders at the NMMU. The contribution from the Ford Foundation has meant that this project can continue at full steam, developing and honing some of the best talent in the country at a time when everyone is lamenting the lack of specialist skills in South Africa. |
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Vodacom
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Vodacom has the naming rights for the Indoor Centers on the Missionvale and Summerstrand campuses. The cellular giant was also the major sponsor of the Nelson Mandela Bay ITF and the Super 7 Junior Tennis championships. Vodacom also supports social soccer at the NMMU through the NMMU Vodacom CFL (Campus Football League)
The Vodacom Foundation
The Vodacom/NMMU postgraduate scholarship programme is the only one of its kind in the country. The postgraduate bursary fund assists previously disadvantaged students to further their studies at the highest level. The students specialise in a range of subjects, from doctors in clinical psychology to professors of law, from diabetic and cancer research masters to specialists in improving the country’s water resources, from environmental vegetation expertise to technical engineers, and from a DPhil in Anthropology to a PHD in local economic development initiatives. The range of postgraduate student specialisations that Vodacom has helped produce will make anyone hopeful about the future of South Africa. |
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The Vodacom Postgraduate bursary students |
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Sasol
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The Govan Mbeki Sasol Science and Maths Development Programme (GMSSMDP) has been running a series of maths development projects designed to improve mathematics skills and instil a love of the subject amongst learners in the Eastern and Southern Cape since 2001.
The financial support from Sasol has been the key factor in the successful implementation of various GMSSMDP projects over the past eight years. This has resulted in a positive impact on the lives of hundreds of learners and educators.
The ever-deepening crises in mathematics and science education and the growing need for the country to produce more skilled manpower in the fields of science, engineering and technology, underlines the importance of partnerships to ensure that effective intervention strategies are maintained.
The NMMU Institute of Chemical Technology’s new Kilo Laboratory (or chemical pilot plant) is co-sponsored by Sasol. The plant forms part of the Institute’s drive to contribute to the Government’s national strategy to develop and support the downstream chemical industry in SA.
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Prof Werner Olivier (NMMU) with Pamilla Mudhray of Sasol and learners from the GMSSMDP |
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The Bidvest Group
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Bidvest contributed towards the NMMU main library upgrade so that students could be assured that knowledge contained in books and online could be available to them easily and comfortably. CN Business, part of Bidvest, supplied all the office furniture in the upgraded library at cost.
Rennies Travel, also part of Bidvest, awards three bursaries each year to students studying travel and tourism. Over time, the results of assessments are used to create a profile for each student, which then guides future employment opportunities within Rennies Travel. Budget Car and Van Rental, part of the Bidvest Group, handed over the keys of a VW T5 Caravelle to the Missionvale Campus in 2008 to use in community work at the campus. The Faculty of Education Research Technology and Innovation as well as the Campus Health Service use VW Sharans provided to them by Budget Car and Van Rental. The NMMU Sports Bureau, and primarily the rowing club, use a Double Cab Toyota bakkie courtesy of Budget Car and Van Rental. The TERU Department uses a Single Cab 2x4 bakkie, also courtesy of Budget Car and Van Rental.
Bidvest is the preferred supplier at NMMU in a number of ways. For instance, Waltons, also part of Bidvest, always supply stationery packs to NMMU conferences at no charge. NMMU have the Waltons catalogue loaded on their B2B online solution, which means orders for stationery can be placed online at a reduced cost, in a more time efficient manner.
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Bidvest’s Lionel Jacobs enjoys the newly upgraded
library with NMMU Trust’s Shilela Malatjie and the NMMU SRC’s public relations officer Msikeleli Nyimbinya.
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The Altron Group
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| The Altron Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the NMMU in 2008. According the MoU, the Altron Group will, through its subsidiary Bytes Document Solutions, invest in a sport and soccer bursary programme at the University. The NMMU will also enter into research agreements with Altron subsidiaries Aberdare Cables and Willard Batteries (part of Powertech). The MoU also lays the foundation for improving service agreements between Altron and the NMMU with regards to Altron subsidiaries such as Autopage Cellular and Altech Netstar. In addition, the MoU outlines the intention of the NMMU and Altech Academy to structure a programme for technology management being taken to PHD level at the NMMU. The MoU also outlines an agreement whereby Altron representatives would be included on the advisory board of the NMMU.
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CEO of the Altron Group, Robbie Venter and the NMMU’s Vice Chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz. |
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Investec
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Students in the Thuthuka programme, all from disadvantaged backgrounds, are excelling in their first year accounting courses – indicating that the additional interventions offered on the Thuthuka programme are delivering results, thanks to the help of Investec, which has been a generous funder of the Accounting Department. In the 2008 programme most of the students achieved good marks in their courses, with the course pass rate of students on the Thuthuka programme often far exceeding the overall pass rates.
Investec also supports the NMMU Alumni function in London, recognizing the important role that Alumni continue to play in their alma maters.
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General Motors South Africa
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The Advanced Mechatronic Technology Training Centre, which addresses the shortage of specialists in the automotive sector in South Africa, was launched at the NMMU in 2007. This centre trains specialists in the new industrial field of mechatronics. General Motors co-sponsors this project as well as donating funds to bursaries in Engineering at NMMU.
In an effort to increase the pool of local engineering expertise that will contribute to the economic growth of the Eastern Cape, NMMU entered into a partnership with
GMSA to establish a Chair in Mechatronics at the University.
Through their vehicle support programme GMSA donated a vehicle to the NMMU Small Business Unit for its Vulindlela project. Through this project, the NMMU assists various municipalities in the Small Medium and Micro Enterprise development, business development services, entrepreneurial development and job creation initiatives.
The growing critical shortage of qualified technicians, technologists and engineers and the dire need to improve the quality of mathematics and science results of high school learners for successful entry into tertiary engineering programmes, led to the establishment and continuation of the Starting Blocks project, also with the commitment and financial support of GMSA.
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Vice Chancellor of the NMMU Prof Derrick Swartz with the-then Managing Director of GM South Africa and African operations Steve Koch. |
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Volkswagen South Africa
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NMMU entered into a partnership with Volkswagen South Africa and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to establish an International Chair in Automotive Engineering at the University. This initiative has significantly improved higher education in the field of engineering at the NMMU and enhanced the technology transfer opportunities from higher education mainly into the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) automotive component supplier sector. This automotive giant is also behind the funding of maths and science incubator schools at the University – where matric students with an aptitude for these subjects are given extra attention so that they can easily adapt to University maths and science subjects and further their careers in these much sought after specialisations.
The VWSA Incubator School project for prospective mathematics and physical science educators taught around 60 prospective Mathematics and 40 prospective physical science educators in 2008. The Physical Science Incubator School is situated in a well equipped laboratory at the Missionvale Campus and examination preparation projects were also offered to each of these selected learners in the winter school holidays.
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Weza Moss, the Community Relations Manager of Volkswagen South Africa, chats to NMMU staff at the new science labs on the Missionvale Campus. |
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The Milde McWilliams Trust
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The Milde McWilliams Trust’s funding to the NMMU includes donations in bursaries. These are awarded to students studying degrees in the fields of Accounting/Business Management, Architecture and Building Disciplines, Information Technology, Law, Nursing/Medicine and Honours (Accounting, IT and Law). Bursaries are also given to students studying diplomas in the fields of Business Management, Information Technology, Engineering/Architecture and for those studying towards an MTech/BTech in various faculties.
The Milde McWilliams Trust also funds student bursaries for students who fail their B Com Honours (Accounting) degree at first attempt (but who obtained an average final mark of at least 40% for their studies). These students have been particularly successful when repeating the year, and with the aid of the Milde McWilliams Trust, these students are given a second chance.
For example, of the six students who obtained an average final mark of greater than 40% in 2005, and who repeated the Honours programme at NMMU in 2006, five passed, yielding a pass rate of 83%. These repeat students then also all passed the Qualifying Examination Part 1 of the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants at their first attempt.
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Dave Robertson of the Milde McWilliams Trust with VC Prof Derrick Swartz, Executive Director of the NMMU Trust Kotie Grové, and Bill Allchurch of the Milde McWilliams Trust. |
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The Tshumisano Trust
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| The Tshumisano Trust supports the Technology Stations Programme in South Africa. Technology Stations in turn are responsible for assisting South African Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with technological advancement and technology transfer to ensure sustainability and advancement of the sector. The NMMU has two technology stations funded by the Tshumisano Trust – these being the Automotive Component Technology Station (ACTS) and the Technology Station in Down Stream Chemicals. The Tshumisano Trust funding assists with operational costs, internships for students, equipment and major projects done for SME partners. The Tshumisano Trust is part of the Technological Innovation Agency (TIA) which is an agency of the Government’s Department of Science and Technology (DST). The Tshumisano Trust has been funding these two technology stations at NMMU for a number of years as well as other technology stations in educational institutions around the country.
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Themba Mtati MD of Yenza, Minister Mangena of DST, Glynne Potgieter Director of Yenza, and Dr D Phaho CEO of the Tshumisano Trust. |
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