NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 119
DATE OF PUBLICATION: FRIDAY 23 OCTOBER 2009 [IQP No 20 -2009]
FIRST SESSION, FOURTH PARLIAMENT
Question 119 for written reply, National Council of Provinces, Mr R A Lees
(DA-KZN) to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries:
(1) Whether her department makes any bursaries available for suitable
school leavers to study at agricultural colleges or universities; if
not, why not; if so, (a) how many bursaries are made available
annually, (b)(i) what is the value of each bursary and (ii) what does
the cost cover, (c) what are the requirements to qualify for such a
bursary, (d) when does the application period (i) open and (ii) close and
(e) how many bursaries have been awarded in each of the past five years;
(2) Whether any measures are in place to ensure that candidates awarded
these bursaries find suitable employment in order to obtain practical
experience; if not, why not; if so,
(3) Whether all such graduates over the past five years were placed in
suitable employment; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so,
what are the relevant details? CW195E
REPLY
1. Yes. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries introduced
the External Bursary Scheme in 2004. The scheme makes provision for
allocation of bursaries to deserving students to follow a career in one of
the identified scarce skills in agriculture at the universities.
Bursaries are also allocated for students who wish to study a Diploma in
Agriculture at Colleges of Agriculture and on average ten (10) bursaries
are awarded annually in this regard.
(a) On average since the inception of the scheme in 2004, 120 new
bursaries are made available annually to potential students to
further their studies in agriculture.
(b) (i) The value of each category of the bursary awards per year
per student is as follows:
â High School : R15 000.
â BSc degree : R60 000.
â BVSc degree : R75 000.
â Postgraduate degree : R40 000.
(ii) The bursary award is comprehensive and covers the
following:
â Registration.
â Tuition.
â Accommodation.
â Prescribed books.
â Meals.
â Monthly allowance and incidentals (e.g. notes, travel for
excursions, etc).
(c) The requirements to qualify for the bursary award are as follows:
â The applicant must meet the entrance requirement set by
various universities for specific field of studies. For example
for the 2010 bursary awards for undergraduates, the following
entry requirements were set by universities:
o BVSc: BSc (Veterinary Biology) degree.
o BSc Bioresource Engineering: Mathematics and Physical Science:
score of 6 (70 â 79%)
o Other BSc degrees: Mathematics and Physical Science: score of 5
(60 â 69%).
â The DAFF uses the â14 point systemâ as selection tool to select
deserving students to receive the bursary award. The â14 point
systemâ allocates scores to applicants based on race, gender,
disability, academic record and the financial situation.
â The National Bursary Committee comprising of the following
members is responsible for the final selection of the recipients of
the DAFF bursary award as outlined in the External Bursary Scheme
policies and Procedure 2006 document.
o 9 HRD Managers from provincial Departments of
Agriculture.
o One representative from ARC.
o One representative from Land Bank.
o The Director: Education, Training and Extension Services from
the DAFF (Chairperson).
(d) The application period open 1st May and closes 30 September annually.
(e) The table below summarises the total number of students who benefited
from the External Bursary Scheme since inception in 2004 to 2009
according to year of participation, fields of studies, gender as well
as race. The table indicates that 775 students benefited from the
programme and 259 successfully completed their studies.
Table 1: The number of bursaries awarded from 2004 â 2009 according to
year of participation, fields of studies, race and gender.
|Year |Number of students who participated in the bursary scheme since inception |Tot|Tot|
| | |al |al |
| | |Par|Com|
| | |tic|ple|
| | |ipa|ted|
| | |ted| |
| |
|African |
Male |23 |25 |18 |17 |16 |10 |7 |2 |11 |2 |7 |6 |0 |3 |48 |3 |84 |70 |8 |0
|21 |1 |382 |124 | |Female |39 |18 |21 |9 |23 |11 |10 |1 |16 |3 |9 |0 |2 |3
|21 |3 |93 |69 |15 |3 |21 |3 |393 |135 | |Total |62 |43 |39 |26 |39 |21 |17
|3 |27 |5 |16 |6 |2 |6 |69 |6 |177 |139 |23 |3 |42 |4 |775 |259 | |
2. During July each year, profiles and CVs of completing bursary
holders are circulated to all directorates within the DAFF,
Provincial Departments of Agriculture, ARC, Commodity organisations
and Agribusinesses for possible employment. Some of the completing
bursary holders who wish to further their studies at post graduate
programme are resisted with universities while placed with the
relevant research institution or industry for practical hands on
experience.
3. Yes. Majority of graduates who completed their studies over the
past five years have managed to secure employment except a
few who graduated from Agricultural Colleges. Efforts are been
taken to link these graduate with commercial farmers. As a
measure to assist completing bursary holders to secure
employment after completion of their studies, the DAFF implement the
following:
â During July each year, profiles and CVs of completing bursary
holders are circulated to all directorates within the DAFF,
Provincial Departments of Agriculture, ARC, Commodity organisations
and Agribusinesses for possible employment.
â All the bursary holders who donât secure employment immediately
after completion are appointed by the DAFF as interns for a period
of 12 months for practical hands on experience to enhance their
chances of employability.