Flight Centre bursaries get tourism students off the ground

Trishia Tshandu and Neo Malema with Andrew Stark of Flight Centre

The travel agency has sponsored new student bursaries and has also made a contribution towards providing a lecture room at the UJ School of Tourism and Hospitality (STH).

Dr Diane Abrahams, director of STH says: “Transformation in the tourism and hospital industry is vital for the growth of this important sector of our economy. At the STH we prepare young people, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, to enter the industry in a variety of exciting careers whereby they transform not only their lives but that of their family and the community in which they live.

“FCTG is sponsoring bursaries for two of our students who are excelling academically, and are part of the ‘missing middle’ – students who are regarded as too rich to qualify for government support, but too poor to afford tuition fees.

“It is encouraging to see international industry partners such as FCTG supporting both students and the infrastructure needed to deliver more young professionals to the workplace,” says Abrahams.

“Travel, tourism and hospitality is the fastest-growing sector alongside banking and agriculture, contributing 10% to global GDP. We’d like to see more government collaboration with the private sector to promote the industry. We are committed to doing our part and our partnership with UJ is the start. We care about delivering amazing travel experiences but we also care about collaboratively educating our youth of today to become our leaders of tomorrow,”says Andrew Stark, managing director at FCTG.

The first two bursaries were handed over to first-year student Neo Malema (21) and Trishia Tshandu (20) who is in her second year of study.