MUT Faculty of Applied and Health Sciences has secured close to R5 million from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD). The Head of the University’s Department of Agriculture, Dr Farayi Murungu, said that news was delivered to them on 11 May 2026. “In a formal appointment letter dated 11 May 2026, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) confirmed MUT as its Higher Education Institution partner for the delivery of an Entrepreneurship Development Programme targeting unemployed agricultural graduates across KwaZulu-Natal. The funding value of R4 950 000.00 represents one of the most substantial external grants secured by the MUT Department of Agriculture,” Dr Murungu said. The training centres will be Cedara, in Pietermaritzburg, and Owen Sithole on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal. The training is expected to start during this financial year.
This development happens at a defining moment for MUT. On 16 September 2025, the University officially launched its institutional drive to embed entrepreneurship education across all three of its faculties. Spearheaded by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, Professor Marcus Ramogale, the initiative calls for every programme to integrate entrepreneurship, ensuring that all MUT graduates leave the Institution equipped with the mindset and skills of a job creator. Professor Ramogale has been unambiguous about the urgency of this shift: “We only produce job seekers. No one produces job creators,” he has often told his colleagues and graduates during graduation ceremonies.
Dr Murungu and his colleague in the department, Dr Helen Mapeka, said that it was Professor Alfred Msomi who requested that the department respond to an advert calling for responses to the tender. Dr Murungu said that the successful securing of this funding is the result of a dedicated collaborative effort within MUT. The Department of Agriculture played a central role, with Dr Murungu giving academic leadership, while Dr Mapeka, a Lecturer in Animal Production, offered the technical expertise and coordinated the application effort. “The team’s collective effort demonstrates the University’s capacity to develop highly competitive funding applications, with MUT’s proposal being selected ahead of submissions from other universities,” said Dr Murungu.
The DARD funding is a direct and tangible expression of MUT’s entrepreneurship agenda in action. “While the University’s academic identity, being advocated by Professor Marcus Ramogale, DVC: Teaching and Learning, seeks to shift the graduate mindset from employee to employer, the DARD-funded initiative extends this mission beyond the campus walls, reaching unemployed agricultural graduates in communities across the province and equipping them with practical, sector-specific entrepreneurial competencies to establish and sustain viable agri-enterprises,” said Dr Murungu.
The Dean of the faculty was elated with this news. “The Faculty of Applied and Health Sciences takes great pride in this significant achievement, which reflects both our institutional vision and our commitment to meaningful societal impact. The R4.95 million for the Entrepreneurship Development Programme is a powerful affirmation of Mangosuthu University of Technology’s strategic shift towards embedding entrepreneurship across all academic programmes,” said Professor Msomi. He added that the “milestone directly advances MUT’s strategic priority of producing graduates who are also capable of creating sustainable enterprises. As faculty, we fully embrace the University’s call, led by Professor Ramogale, to transform our graduates from job seekers into job creators. The agricultural sector presents a critical opportunity to address youth unemployment while contributing to food security and rural economic development”.