NMMU Vice Chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz; Entrepreneur and Business woman Dr. Bridgette Gasa; and Nandipha Jack (Student) will go on the Vice Chancellors new fundraising mission “Trailblazing campaign”.
Picture: Brian Witbooi. 15 June 2016, The Herald
PERU’S Inca Trail is where NMMU vice-chancellor Professor Derrick Swartz and 22 others are headed to raise funds for students forced to drop out.
The mountain trek to the ruins of Machu Picchu is the focus of the #Trailblazing campaign, launched yesterday at NMMU’s Madibaz Sports Club.
The aim is for Swartz, along with other NMMU staff, including chancellor Santie Botha, students and fellow academics from as far afield as the United Kingdom, to raise R4-million through the trek.
The funds raised will be used for a scholarship programme to enable 160 students to complete their qualifications.
“[The funds will be used] for a particular group of students who dropped out [of university] . . . with only 25% of their modules to complete,” Swartz said.
The team tackling the four-day Inca Trail will leave South Africa on August 26. The 43km hike will be from September 1 to 4.
“No society has been built successfully without present generations investing in the education of future generations,” Swartz said.
“South Africans must augment pressurised [university] resources.”
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