Bursaries
Honours, Masters and PhD bursaries
Please consult the Postgraduate Centre & Funding Office.
Learnernships for prospective teachers
Pinelands and Westerford High Schools offer learnership opportunities for PGCE students doing Mathematics, Physical Science or English. (Closed for 2013).
Bursaries for prospective teachers
1. There is a limited number of Financial Aid opportunities for PGCE students.
2. The Western Cape Education Department offers bursaries for prospecitve teachers who are first, second,or third year students studying towards a BSc (Education) in mathematics, science and technology or students who are completing their BSc degrees who wish to study for a PGCE. Closing date 3 August 2012.
3. Funza Lushaka bursaries. The Department of Basic Education makes available bursaries (service contract loans with NSFAS - the National Student Finanacial Aid Scheme) to undergraduate degree and PGCE students intending to teach in the Foundation phase or in the following subjects only: African languages, English, mathematics or the sciences and technology, or the following FET subjects: accounting, economics and geography.
They are competitive bursaries. Each university receives a limited number of full-cost bursaries (presently worth R70 000 per year) to award and the number of applications for them exceeds the number of bursaries. Criteria for the award of the bursaries include academic achievement, studying the right subjects for the bursary for at least two years in your degree before the PGCE, and commitment to teaching, particularly in schools where there is a shortage of teachers. A bursary can be renewed annually provided you make satisfactory progress and bursaries can be applied for in any year of study.
The main condition of the bursary is that you agree to teach in a state teaching post (not a Governing Body post) for a year for each year that the bursary is held. You will be required to sign an agreement that you will accept any post in which you are placed in the year following the completion of your PGCE (no extensions granted). The PGCE has also to be obtained in the year after you have completed your first degree. You may indicate your preferred province but there is not a guarantee that you will be placed in it. The bursary does not need to be repaid if these conditions are fulfilled. Failure to fulfil them will mean that the bursary has to be re-paid to NSFAS.
Applications can only be made on line at www.funzalushaka.doe.gov.za once they have opened, but you can only apply for the bursary after you have received acceptance to study at UCT. When you apply, make sure that you keep a copy of the record of application as proof of application.
Note that, as there is no guarantee of receiving a bursary and that, as bursaries are only be awarded after registration each year, applicants must be prepared to pay their own fees - and you cannot simply assume that a bursary will be awarded. The selection for the 2013 bursaries will only take place at the end of February 2013.
Please read the application notes and the Agreement Form on the Funza Lushaka website carefully before you apply, as they contain the conditions for the award and acceptance of a bursary.
Contact Prof. Rob Siebörger, preferably by e-mail, for all queries.