First-year materials engineering student determined to continue family’s high performance at TUT

It will be the first time that first-year Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Materials Engineering in Polymer Technology student, Senamile Nyawo, travels and lives outside her home province of KZN.

Senamile Nyawo Nyawo from Nongoma, achieved four distinctions in matric and is starting her studies on 2 February at the Pretoria Campus. Her elder sister who studied for a Diploma in Public Management at the Tshwane University of Technology has set high standards of academic performance, which Nyawo said she is set on upholding.

“She inspired me to come to TUT. She achieved good marks throughout her studies, and I intend to do the same,” said Nyawo.

She said she chose materials engineering because of the high number of job opportunities available in the field.

“I also love the fact you can work in different sectors such as mining and the motor industry,” she said.

“I find it exciting that I will be studying a field that is responsible for manufacturing products such as the insulators used by electricians and syringes used in the healthcare sector,” said Nyawo, who completed her matric at Kwa-Ziphethe Secondary School, a Quintile 1 school which achieved a 100% pass rate in 2023 and 2024.

In 2025, the school achieved a 99.3% pass rate with 140 out of the 141 learners who sat for the National Senior Certificate exam succeeding in the finals.