Education and training

A Robot and Sensor School has taken off.

The Gauteng Provincial Government announced in 2023 that it would reward excellence in schools by offering a threeyear tertiary bursary to the three pupils who finished in the top three positions in every township school.

The amount allocated for this project is R360-million. The same amount was spent in the 2023 year on tertiary bursaries through the existing bursary programme.

The provincial government has also committed R6-billon to build new schools in areas where there is the greatest need. National Treasury has released R1.5-billion to allow for the demolition of mobile and asbestos schools.

The Schools of Specialisation programme is accelerating. In the course of the 2023/24 year the number of these schools is expected to grow from 21 to 35. An example of such as school is the Soshanguve Engineering School of Specialisation which has a focus on automotive skills.

The popular annual TUKS Robot Race Day has earned the University of Pretoria a reputation for making technology accessible. In 2022 the university went a step further with the launch of the Robot and Sensor School.

Online Resources

Gauteng Department of Education: www.education.gpg.gov.za

National Research Foundation: www.nrf.ac.za

TUT Enterprise Holdings: www.tutenterprise.co.za

While the Race Day is limited to third-year students, the new school aims to expose schoolchildren to concepts that go into creating a robot such as CAD design, programming and 3D printing. Several university departments are involved in the project in which students from the Engineering, Built Environment and IT faculty give up their time to create the hardware and present modules to course participants. The programme is supported by RS South Africa, a supplier of industrial and electronic products.

Three of South Africa’s top five business schools are in Gauteng: the Wits Business School, the University of South Africa’s (Unisa’s ) Graduate School of Business Leadership and the Gordon Institute of Business Science, on the Sandton campus of the University of Pretoria.

Eighty percent of the 1 230 lecturers and researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) have post-graduate degrees, and 27 A-rated scientists work there. The university offers studies in more than 40 schools in five faculties. ■

Interview

Randburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry

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Linda Blackbeard

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

Linda Blackbeard ran her own interior design and hospitality company before taking up the reigns as CEO of the RCCI. She is the SACCI Chamber Forum Chairlady and a member of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry board of directors. She was awarded the Pan African Award in 2018 in recognition of her achievements in the Continental Lifetime Achiever sector, CEO Global Most Influential Women in Business & Government 2018 Awards.

Randburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The areas we cover are: Randburg, Sandton, Fourways, Midrand and Lanseria.