Meet some of the students at Stellenbosch University who have received funding from Kistefos AS.
The Kistefos AS Opportunity Bursary Fund Programme, which is administered by the Small Projects Foundation (SPF), was recently featured in Stellenbosch University’s alumni newsletter Izandla Ziyahlambana.
Kistefos has been donating funds to students at Stellenbosch University and Rhodes University since 2019 – and will continue to do so until 2027, with the total funding amounting to US$ 2.1 million.
The recipients are selected on the basis of financial need, academic excellence, a proven track record of service to their community and display of a readiness to assume positions of leadership.
Tomorrow’s ethical leaders
The bursaries are not only providing students with the financial means for tuition and living expenses – they’re also ensuring that tomorrow’s leaders will know the importance of responsibility and ethics, Luke Baisley, Kistefos AS’ programme manager at SPF, told Izandla Ziahlambana.
“Kistefos is looking for students who are likely to become ethical leaders in future. If you are a responsible ethical leader now, the chances are good you are going to remain a responsible ethical leader tomorrow. Those are the people that Kistefos wants to support.”
“An absolute blessing”
One of the students who has been supported by Kistefos AS is Ivana Stevens of Makhanda. She received a Kistefos bursary at the beginning of the second year of her BSc Human Life Sciences (Physiology and Genetics) studies at Stellenbosch in 2022.
“This bursary has been nothing short of an absolute blessing and I feel extremely grateful and privileged. It has helped my parents to send me to a top university and has allowed me to be exposed to the most amazing opportunities, facilities, lecturers, and people,” says Stevens.
Read the full story about the impact of The Kistefos AS Opportunity Bursary Fund Programme here.