Love a Little Local: Hermanus Varsity – keeping the dream alive

Writer Elaine Davie

It seems difficult to believe that it was only two years ago that Hermanus Varsity was launched, based on nothing more than a dream shared by three men, Theo Krynauw, William Ntebe and Professor John de Gruchy. Their vision was to create an educational institution that would enable young people, especially those from the disadvantaged communities of this region, to obtain a post-matric qualification and the opportunity to find employment without having to leave their home-town.

In anybody’s terms, it was an ambitious (some said impossible) dream. Fortunately, one of the first actions the founders took was to appoint a CEO with the skills and personality traits they felt would help turn their vision into reality. Delana Finlayson was a professional quantity surveyor with strong business skills and most importantly, the energy, creativity and enthusiasm to lay the foundations for the successful centre of learning they had in mind.

Towards the end of 2020, reviewing the previous two years, Theo Krynauw commented on this decision: “From the word go, Delana turbo boosted this whole thing forward. She gathered a small, dynamic team of people around her that achieved the near impossible. Wonderful courses and amazing lecturers and tutors who all have one thing in common – they do it from the heart!”

Within this period, well over 100 students benefited from a wide range of courses presented at HV and in Delana’s own words during the review process, “We are providing hope and opportunities to many: by delivering relevant academic programmes with more efficiency, and with more focus on employability and entrepreneurial success."

Unfortunately, establishing a complex institution like this without a blueprint does not come without cost. Involving the creation of systems and structures, as well as forging relationships with other tertiary partners, recruiting and co-ordinating volunteers, balancing opposing interests, meeting the needs of students, and most stressful of all perhaps, finding the necessary funding to support the enterprise, unsurprisingly, Delana ended up carrying a huge amount of stress.

Nevertheless, it came as a shock to everyone when she resigned at the end of March. “The Trustees deeply regret this decision on her part,” says Mike Olivier, Deputy Chair of the Board. “Hers will be incredibly difficult shoes to fill. Delana’s energy, inventiveness and pro-active approach created a situation where she found herself taking on more and more responsibilities, with perhaps too little support. Although this was not strictly part of her job description, for example, she found herself getting heavily involved in fundraising, which in itself, put a huge amount of pressure on her. And then, of course, there was the additional strain of adapting to Covid restrictions in 2020.

“So we want to pay tribute to the huge contribution she has made to the development of Hermanus Varsity over the past two years and we will certainly not walk away from her reimagined vision for the future.”

Following Delana’s resignation, Mike was asked to take on the role of caretaker manager until a new appointment could be made. A former strategic consultant for the corporate sector, his aim is to consolidate the work already done and to plot a way forward. “Of course, whatever we do has to take into account the landscape within which we work – one of sometimes dire poverty, where our students often lack resources like access to the internet, where the education system has failed to prepare them for the contemporary world of work, and thanks to Covid, much donor funding has been re-directed towards health care and food sustainability,” Mike points out.

With this in mind, he underscores the importance of continuing to implement the support systems provided to the students by HV in providing coaching in study- and life-skills, facilitating financial subsidisation and access to the internet, as well as psychological counselling, where necessary. The volunteer tutors who form the bedrock of HV’s services to students and the key to their academic success will continue to provide their exceptional support.

“Two of our immediate priorities,” says Mike, “will be the registration of a Non-Profit Company under the umbrella of the Trust, with its own Board of Directors who, in addition to providing fiduciary oversight will be directly involved in guiding and supporting management; and further negotiations with the Department of Higher Education, which has raised certain concerns with the Varsity, including its name. We will also want to review our partnerships with several of the tertiary institutions whose accredited courses we have been implementing, to ensure that mutual benefits accrue more favourably to HV and its students than they presently do.

“As it is, we have a particularly good relationship with Stadio (the tertiary branch of the Curro Group) and are happy to say that we have just launched their accredited B Ed degree course and ECD higher diploma, with an expected final enrolment of 25 students. We will, of course, also honour our commitment to our LED students who still have a number of modules to complete. But most of our other courses have been put on hold for the time being until we have obtained sufficient funding.”

As Mike emphasises, funding is the greatest imperative for HV at the moment. Although the staff complement remains small and nimble and, thanks to a miraculous donation from overseas, the Hub now belongs to HVT, given the level of financial and

other support required by its students, it needs a powerful injection of additional funding to continue implementing the courses it envisages. While the organisation’s anchor funder, Johann Visser, continues his generous support, Mike would like to appeal to other members of the Overstrand community, especially its business sector, the ultimate beneficiaries of a well-trained pool of potential employees, to step up to the mark and help this inspired initiative to remain an asset of which the town can be proud.

He believes that the long-term sustainability of HV will be a fitting tribute to the groundwork laid by Delana, as well as to Administration Manager, Beverley Moller, the mainstay of the organisation, who has also resigned after devoting herself body, soul and mind, from the beginning, to getting it on its feet and running on oiled wheels.

For further information, visit HV’s website, www.hermanusvarsity.co.za or contact Mike Olivier on 082 881 3282.