From the Molteno and Sterkstroom communities and Mdantsane township in East London, four of the students are enrolled in the SciMathUS (science and maths at Stellenbosch University) programme through SU, and the fifth is attending the Mangosuthu University of Technology.
The SciMathUS is one of SU's access broadening programmes. The structured 10-month course accommodates up to 100 students per year and creates the opportunity for students to rewrite the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam in maths and physical science to gain entry to university, following a year of intensive tuition.
Anne Henschel, Nordex SA's MD says, 'We strongly believe this enrichment programme will ensure further access to tertiary studies for many disadvantaged learners from the Eastern Cape. South Africa has a known ability and track record in technical industry and it's just a case of opening the door for this to bear fruit."
Nordex supplies 40 2.5MW wind turbines to the Dorper Wind Farm, one of SA's key renewable projects. The wind farm is situated midway between the Molteno and Sterkstroom communities with a production output of 100MW.
Nkosinathi Saule, one of the students who hails from Joe Slovo Secondary School, started his first day at the university last week. "This is a dream come true for me. So far it has not been difficult but I know it will be a challenge.
"In my community, people do not want to take maths because they think it is difficult. I want to show them and my family that it is possible to become an electrical engineer, even though I come from a poor community," he says.
The SciMathUS bridging programme, in operation since 2001, allows for learners from previously disadvantaged schools to be able to choose between a science and maths stream, or an accounting and maths stream.
According to SU, during the past six years, the students on average managed to improve their NSC maths and physical sciences results by 18 percentage points after completing the programme.
On average, 75% of former SciMathUS students enrolled for undergraduate studies at SU after completing the programme. Students also enroll at other higher education institutions.
One hundred and ten former SciMathUS students have been awarded degrees at SU between December 2005 and December 2013, two of which were enrolled in science-related PhD studies in 2014 and others going on to qualify as medical doctors and engineers.
"We intend to make this a regular initiative and partnering with world class institutions like SU gives us complete faith that we will soon be hearing success stories from these students," says Henschel.
The combination of renewable energy and technical education ticks two very pertinent and essential boxes in today's South Africa. Will it be continued load shedding and plummeting matric results, or foreign direct investment and CSI spent wisely?
