Ms Sivenathi Jayiya (Master of Public Relations Management

VICE-CHANCELLOR’S PRESTIGIOUS ACHIEVERS AWARD IS ‘A GREAT HONOUR’

ADMIRATION: Vice-Chancellor’s Prestigious Achievers Award recipient, Sivenathi Jayiya, says the award assisted her to complete her Master’s in Public Relations Management degree, which is the biggest accomplishment of her life.

A Client Services Account Manager at M&C Saatchi Abel advertising agency, Sivenathi Jayiya says the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestigious Achievers Award assisted her to complete her Master’s in Public Relations Management. Her research title was “Public Relations Practitioners’ conceptualisation of the role of stakeholder engagement in corporate social responsibility planning and implementation”.

“Being a recipient of such an award was a great honour and a privilege to me as I got to study without worrying about my fees or any academic expenses. I am not where I want to be in my career yet. I am currently an advertising account manager but hope to become a lecturer one day. It has been a struggle but graduating and being a recipient of the VC Prestigious Achievers Award will hopefully open doors for me.”

Born in Stutterheim (Eastern Cape), Jayiya grew up in Cape Town and embarked on her higher education journey at CPUT in 2013. Jayiya had initially applied for Journalism but the required interview letter was delivered a month after the deadline and she then forfeited her place in the Journalism department. Her name was forwarded to the Public Relations (PR) Department. At that point, she had no idea of what PR was.

However, Jayiya enjoyed the course and after graduating with her diploma in 2015, enrolled for her BTech, which she completed in 2016. In 2018, Jayiya registered for a master’s degree in PR to further equip herself in corporate communication, strategic communication and corporate social responsibility, with the hope of landing a job in corporate communications. Her master’s degree took longer than she had expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“With God’s grace I managed to complete my master’s degree in 2021 and graduated cum laude with the assistance of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestigious Achievers Award. This was the biggest accomplishment of my life,” says Jayiya.