An MUT academic and a student are attending the UK Residential Study Exchange Visit of the Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP), from 24 May to 2 June 2024. Ntombifuthi Mthembu, Entrepreneurship Coordinator, and a Lecturer in the Department of Human Resources and Management, in the Faculty of Management Sciences, and Mbalenhle Nzama, MUT SWEEP President, will be representing MUT in this exchange programme that will be delivered by the London School of Economics Enterprise. The event is supported by the British Council and EDHE. Mthembu said “this initiative aims to empower student women and professional women entrepreneurs to become successful in the world of entrepreneurship, and to create businesses that have a positive societal impact”.
Through a governance structure that includes coordinators of SWEEP in public universities, the project is designed to contribute to system-wide change by advancing gender equity and economic empowerment of student and graduate women at a national level. Mthembu said nine public universities in South Africa have been afforded this opportunity to travel to UK, “with MUT being the only University in the province of KwaZulu-Natal”. Mthembu said part of the activities in the programme include travel to Oxford and Liverpool to visit startup businesses and incubators.