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M U T

S P I R I T

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J A N U A R Y - M A R C H 2 0 2 0

Bayanda Mahlaba with Minister of Basic Education, Angie

Motshekga

MUT STRATEGY 2025 IN ACTION:

Excellence in teaching and

learning

(Goal 1)

MUT STRATEGY 2025 IN ACTION:

Excellence in research,

innovation and

engagement

(Goal 2)

The name Bayanda Mahlaba graced every publication

when he defied the odds to become one of the

national top achievers in the 2019 National Senior

Certificate exams. Bayanda, who is doing his first year

of Mechanical Engineering at MUT, did not have an

easy matric journey as he was the victim of crime at

his home in Inanda. Being raised by an unemployed

single mother who had to struggle to make ends meet

brought many challenges during his formative years,

but the biggest hurdle of his life has been funding his

tertiary education. Although he was a national top

achiever with 100% for technical mathematics, and

placed third nationally for technical sciences which

he passed with 90%, he was facing the possibility of

staying at home as none of the funding institutions

would give him a chance. Bayanda’s case is one of

the sad realities that many young top achievers are

faced with.

Luckily for Bayanda, it was his outstanding results

and MUT’s community-mindedness that changed

his situation. One of the local media houses sent

an email to MUT’s stakeholder engagement office

to enquire about the possibility of MUT funding his

studies and assisting him with a space. “As soon

as I saw Bayanda’s matric results I knew that he is

exactly the type of student MUT wants in its student

records. A quick email to the head of the Department

of Mechanical Engineering resulted in him being given

a firm offer – but then there was the issue of funding.

Fortunately for him, he met the criteria set for the

alumni bursary fund which was launched in 2016 by a

group of alumni who also studied engineering at MUT,”

said Zama Sishi, Director: Stakeholder Relations

Management at MUT. Bayanda’s mom broke into tears

of joy when she heard that MUT was able to assist her

son with registration and accommodation fees.

Ayanda Bulose, Schools Liaison Assistant in the

Marketing and Communications Department, was

assigned to assist Bayanda to navigate successfully

through the MUT registration process, which he did

with great care and professionalism. Ayanda has

become a brother and mentor to Bayanda, who had at

some point lost hope that he would ever see himself

starting his tertiary studies in the first semester of

2020. Understanding the depth of his job as a student

recruitment officer, Ayanda has approached a couple

of funding opportunities and successfully secured a

full sponsorship bursary that will fund Bayanda until he

completes his Mechanical Engineering diploma. The

student recruitment team at MUT have grasped the

advantages of targeting better performing students

and are making sure to exploit every opportunity to

get the best students recruited and registered at MUT.

National top achiever accommodated by MUT