The Advancement and Partnership Office prides itself on many achievements but notably the generous donations received to advance the ideals of TUT’s Centre for New Venture Creation, which have ensured many young entrepreneurs setting up businesses in the Limpopo Province, where unemployment is rife.
The Centre, which was established at TUT’s Polokwane Campus in 2001, aims, among others, at facilitating the establishment of viable small businesses that will ultimately lead to wealth creation through a Certificate Programme in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. The programme targets previously disadvantaged communities to facilitate their successful entry into the business community.
Our institution has recognised the critical need for trained day-care workers and an opportunity to create employment, as such we launched this successful community service project which involves day-care worker training, involving of an intensive ten-week training course. The project is growing from strength to strength, all thanks to numerous donations solicited by the Advancement and Partnerships Office.
The Department of Crop Sciences at TUT established a small-scale farming demonstration unit in Honingnestkrantz, north of Pretoria, also developing an intensive three-week course for training small-scale farmers in basic agriculture. The demonstration unit mirrors the challenges farmers have to cope with in practice. The course is offered at no cost. The success of the unit can largely be ascribed to the financial involvement of a range of stakeholders partnering with TUT in the project.
We also take pride in the Information Technology Banking Learnership Programme (ITBLP). This is the first IT banking learnership to be registered in the country. The programme aims at meeting the dire need for skilled human resources in the IT and banking sectors. This project also marks the first major collaborative partnership in the country between IT solutions providers and the banking sector.
Government aims at ensuring that the best Mathematics and Science teachers are trained in order to stem the high failure rate among learners in the country. The Train-the-Trainer project at our Polokwane Campus supports Government in this drive and it aims at assisting teachers in new ways of facilitating Maths and Science classes. In turn, this supports a culture of teaching and solving problems common among Maths and Science teachers. To date, a large number of teachers have benefited from the project, and its impact is evident in the results of learners in those two subjects.