One of the highlights of the 2024 graduation ceremony was that the best student in the Faculty of Engineering was a female student, who received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award. Nontobeko Timamu from KwaMsane, Mtubatuba, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, said she was able to achieve this milestone because of hard work. “I managed to achieve good grades through hard work and dedication. I was fortunate enough to find students who were as dedicated as me, and we formed a study group and named it FOCUS because we were that focused.”
Nontobeko, a first graduate in her family, wanted to make them proud and also show them that only the sky is the limit. “My classmates and I motivated each other to study and I always made sure my university work came first. I remember there were days when I would cross-night on campus when it was examination season. I had no other option but to study,” she said. Nontobeko is presently doing her internship but says she has plans to study towards an Advanced Diploma in Construction Management in 2025.