MTC supports university students

MTC supports university studentsBursaries awarded to seven students MTC Namibia awarded seven Namibian students with bursaries worth N$574 000 on 9 March. Mariselle Stofberg

Lessening the financial burden on university students, MTC Namibia awarded seven Namibian students with bursaries worth N$574 000 on 9 March.

Over the past decade (2011 – 2020), MTC has spent a total of N$4.2 million on bursaries.

The seven recipients are Tonny Muluti, Verner Haimbili and Gerson Kanduuombe from the University of Namibia (Unam); Emilia Kulutwe and Veronika Katombela from the International University of Management (IUM); and Melvin Rudolf and Kim Ashlynn McKnight from the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust).

The students are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in software development, power engineering, computer science, chartered accounting, and human resource management.

“MTC’s bursary scheme has been in existence since 2002. The scheme is to assist in lessening the financial burden on struggling university students. Namibia has a lot of bright students who, due to their disadvantaged backgrounds, are struggling to honour their tertiary educational costs, resulting in many failing to complete and obtain a university degree. And these are the students that we consider supporting,” said MTC’s chief human capital and corporate affairs officer, Tim Ekandjo.

“MTC commits to providing our bursary students an experiential learning opportunity, work guidance, and employment opportunities. After they complete their studies, we absorb these students in our graduate trainee programme, with the possibility of integrating them fully to form part of the MTC workforce. This is however dependent on their performance,” he said.

Ekandjo highlighted that the company still upholds its norm of providing bursary recipients with experiential learning opportunity, work guidance, and employment opportunities.

“Upon completion of their studies, we will absorb these students in our graduate trainee programme, with the possibility of integrating them fully to form part of the MTC workforce. This is however dependent on their performance,” said Ekandjo.

Choosing of recipients

Each year, MTC calls for bursary application in local newspapers, their websites, and social media platforms. “Applications then get vetted by HR to make sure that the criteria are met before interviews are conducted. Students must be a Namibian citizen; registered as a first, second, third, or fourth year at a recognised tertiary institution within SADC; and have above 70% average academic performance,” Ekandjo added.

MTC’s maintenance and installation coordinator, Dillon Musvamiri, advised the recipients to be “determined, uphold positive attitude, and be hungry to learn and innovate. The world is constantly evolving, requiring us to think innovatively and be problem solvers. We thus advise you to embrace this opportunity and excel.”

The bursary announcement comes merely a week after the company, through its Rural School Project, committed to build classrooms for Omatako Primary School, in Tsumkwe. The bursary scheme, Rural School Project, and MTC Namibia National Internship Programme are all deliberate interventions aimed at addressing fundamental challenges experienced at different stages of the education system.

MTC Namibia national internship programme

Launched in 2019, the MTC Namibia National Internship Programme is a three-year initiative focusing on assisting students who require internships to graduate and on creating job-ready and experienced graduates. Parallel to this objective, the programme is assisting institutions of high learning to find internship placements for students and in the long run accelerate job creation for the youth.

The programme accommodates 160 interns per year who get placed at various public and private institutions across the country. MTC then pays the placed students an allowance of N$3 000 per student for a period of three months, and where a student requires a six-month internship, an amount of N$1 500 will be paid.

The education institutions that have partnered with them on this programme are the University of Namibia (Unam), Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust), International University of Management (IUM), Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) and vocation training centres through the Namibia Training Authority (NTA).