By More Matshediso
Pretoria – Eight South African students will be departing to Ireland on 26 August to pursue their post-graduate studies in various fields.
It is hoped that the students, on their return in a year’s time, will bring back home skills that they acquired from abroad, and contribute to the country’s economic development and social cohesion.
On Tuesday, the eight students gathered at the Residence of the Ambassador of Ireland, in Pretoria, for their farewell.
They are beneficiaries of the full scholarship of the Kader Asmal Fellowship Programme that sums up to R6 million.
Kader Asmal Fellowship Programme is a partnership between South Africa and Ireland, which aims to strengthen the relationship between the two countries through skills development.
The programme is part of the commitment by the government and the Ministry of Higher Education and Training (HET), through international co-operation and partnerships.
Beneficiaries of the programme
One of the beneficiaries of the programme, Greer Schoeman, told SAnews that she will be studying her Master’s Degree in Social Policy with University College Cork, and hoped to learn more on European strategies around nation building and social cohesion.
“You will realise that our country has the best policies in black and white, but putting them in practice is a bit of a challenge. I hope to come back well capacitated to contribute in that respect,” said the 29-year-old, who hails from Cape Town.
Schoeman and her fellow students come from a theoretical background, coupled with field work of close to five years.
Before starting a career at South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), she obtained her Honour’s Degree in Gender Studies with the University of Cape Town.
Four out of the eight students are Zimbabweans by origin, but gained South African citizenship over the years.
Getrude Gwenzi, 28, who will also pursue a one year Master’s Degree in Social Policy, said this was the best achievement for her so far, and it will broaden her horizon.
“I am glad I was chosen as one of the students going to Ireland. I have been staying in South Africa for ten years now, I’m originally from Zimbabwe.
“As a South African, I feel that given this opportunity, I can give back to not only to SA, but the whole of Southern Africa, my original country included,” Gwenzi said.
“It will allow me to give back in terms of social development, particularly working with young children and youth,” said Gwezi, who has been working as a social worker for five years in the Western Cape Province.
She developed a passion for children and youth throughout her social work experience, especially mentally challenged children.
“There’s a long list of mentally challenged children who struggle to go to school… providing services for them will be a big opportunity for me,” Gwenzi said.
She completed her Honour’s Degree in Social Work in 2008, with Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape.
Honouring Kader Asmal
Louise Asmal was excited about the initiative, saying it was fitting to commemorate the life of her late husband, Kader Asmal.
“It is a beautiful tribute to my husband. It is nice to see that his name is still well remembered,” she said.
“Ireland is a very nice and easier place to go to … they [Irish citizens] know much more about African countries. I think my husband would have been extremely happy that this was organised in his name,” said Asmal.
She wished the students well, and said she hoped that they will go to the country and bring back useful skills.
She said Ireland was a special country for her because she and Kader went to stay there for a while after they married.
“I wanted us to go to other countries in Africa but that didn’t work out,” she said.
Increasing skills development
The department’s Director for Global Partnership, Beata Mtyingizana, said the initiative was aimed at addressing issues around economic growth, as her department is guided by the State of the Nation Address (SoNA) to carry out its mandate.
“We have a mandate as the department, of which we want to increase skills development initiatives and a number of students in scarce and critical fields of study,” Mtyingizana said.
She said SA in cooperation with foreign governments, needed to ensure that it sources out opportunities in terms of scholarships and training.
“… Through this, we will be able to bridge the gap within the scarce skills we speak of,” said Mtyingizana.
She said SA negotiated with foreign government to fund their students fully, though the country had to fund students’ stipends. She added that the partnership was not only with Ireland but with China and many other countries.
“Next year there is an expectation that SA needs to inject some money, as we intend to increase the number of students that we will send abroad,” she said.
She added that even government officials were also sent abroad to increase their capacity.
SA, Ireland’s strong relationship
Ireland Ambassador Bob Patterson said the two countries had developed strong political and economic relationship decades ago, and that Ireland intended to play a role in filling skills shortage gaps in SA.
“At the same time, we hope that the students, when they come back, will feel positive about Ireland,” he said.
He said students were chosen in three basic fields of public administration, food science nutrition, and management studies.
“We did this in collaboration with the SA Department of Higher Education and Training, also checking our own areas of interest,” said Patterson.
He said the reason for also recruiting students of Zimbabwean origin was because Ireland wanted to contribute to Southern Africa as a whole, not only SA. - SAnews.gov.za
