| The Tata Africa
Scholarships are a blessing to several South African students
who dream of pursuing further studies but do not have the
means to follow their dreams.
Students such as Thandi Dadla and Babyi Olivia, both
in their mid 20s, hail from cities that are crime-ridden
and steeped in abject poverty. Sheer determination and
hard work saw them through school and to Johannesburg
for higher studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Ms Dadla and Ms Olivia were lucky to receive a scholarship
to pursue higher studies from the Tata Scholarships Programme
by Tata Africa Holdings. The scholarships paid for their
university fees, accommodation and expenditure on books
and research work. This also meant that they did not have
to work part-time to meet expenses and could instead concentrate
on studying.
Ms Dadla and Ms Olivia were among the first batch of 10
students to receive these scholarships in 2006 for the
2007 academic year. Since then, the number of universities
benefiting has increased as has the number of scholarships
given each year from 10 to 40.
 The
programme has benefited 137 students, from disciplines
such as engineering, mining, nursing, pharmacy, law, architecture
and many more. Scholarships worth R8 million have so far
been awarded.
Over the past five years, these scholarships have become
the most sought-after postgraduate educational aid in
South Africa, as acknowledged by Professor Loyiso Nongxa,
vice chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand,
in his address at the 2011 Tata Africa Scholarship Awards
ceremony.
Eliphas Nolou, an economic science scholar, who was awarded
the scholarship, is grateful for the support he received:
"The Tata scholarship was an enormous help. I could
buy books and a computer with the money. Since the computer
labs are always full, having my own computer really helped
me to keep up with my classwork.”
Raman Dhawan, managing director of Tata Africa Holdings
and the guiding force behind the Tata Africa Scholarships,
articulates his vision thus: "Education is what unlocks
the core of a nation. We trust that with a Tata Africa
Scholarship, many doors will open for the youth of South
Africa, not only locally, but also globally."
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