It has been 10 years since the North-West University (NWU) and the Rapport Onderwysfonds (ROF) first started collaborating to empower Afrikaans-speaking education students at the university through an ROF loan bursary.
A delegation from the ROF comprising Inge Kühne, chairperson, Phil-Marie Roberts from the ROF and Werner Human from the ROF Board of Trustees met with Prof Bismark Tyobeka, principal and vice-chancellor, on 11 July. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the way forward, as the renewal of the agreement is fast approaching and the current three-year term is coming to an end.
The discussions included exploring a possible increase in the loan bursary amount for 2025, as well as reflecting on the successes and past financial assistance to students.
The ROF initiative is celebrating two decades as an important role player in the training of Afrikaans-speaking teachers across the country. Through the ROF, successful Afrikaans-speaking education students can become part of the cohort of well-trained teachers.
During the past three years thirty-six NWU education students benefitted from the loan annually. The ROF and the NWU concluded a collaboration agreement as far back as 2014, in terms of which the NWU donates to the ROF on behalf of an NWU student, and then the ROF, in addition to the one student, financially supports another NWU student. In addition, ROF supports more students at the NWU from own and other donor’s funds.
From 2020 to 2022, a total of 205 students received support through ROF – some for one year and others for more years. Education students from the Foundation Phase to master’s degree students receive support from the fund.
Through these collaboration agreements, a total of R12 million has been invested in NWU education students.
Inge says NWU education students are academically strong and driven to complete their studies. “Therefore, the ROF can confidently recommend and allocate these students to our donors. NWU education students come from across all the provinces of the country. They are not concentrated in only one province. Therefore, students can be allocated to donors from other provinces who would like to support someone from their own area according to their wishes.”
She says the ROF’s 20-year milestone would not have been possible without the support of donors such as the NWU.
Going forward, the two parties aim to explore and leverage possible opportunities and lessons learnt in this venture in order to enhance the development of Sesotho, isiZulu and Setswana as languages of instruction.
More about the ROF
An ROF loan bursary is a loan of which a portion is annually converted to a scholarship based on academic achievement. It establishes the principle of “hard work is rewarded” in young people.
According to Inge, the ROF receives more than 750 applications annually, from which approximately 300 students can be supported.
For more information, visit the ROF website at https://rof.org.za/.
ROF representatives visited the office of the NWU vice-chancellor, Prof Bismark Tyobeka. Werner Human from the ROF Board of Trustees, Phil-Marie Roberts from the ROF, Prof Bismark Tyobeka, Inge Kühne, Nkosinathi Tom, NWU director for Strategic Partnerships and Special Projects, and Philip Malan, manager in the office of the vice-chancellor, attended the meeting.
