Foreign students top notch

AFTER achieving the pinnacle of academic success, Bilungi Alain Useni, 34, the first Congolese to obtain a PhD in AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University (SU), felt that he had repaid the confidence his family and others had in him.

Useni, from Kolwezi in the DRC, joined SU 10 years ago as a special student in the university’s Intensive English Programme, then enrolled as an MSc (Agric) student under the supervision of Francois van der Vyver.

He completed his Master’s degree in March 2011, and a month later was accepted by the Western Cape Agricultural Research Trust as a PhD student to conduct research on the fertility of dairy cows at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, where he gained experience in dairy farming. He obtained a doctorate in animal sciences and graduated last week.

Useni said he had challenges adjusting in Cape Town since his first language was French, but the support from his small family in the city and mentors sustained him throughout his studies.

“I was doing something I loved, which is agriculture. I worked with many dairy farming products, but most importantly I worked with chickens and sheep, which I think will be nice for African countries,” Useni said.

“I was fortunate to have had the support of one of my brothers who was already in Cape Town when I arrived in South Africa.”

Meanwhile, a Rwandan woman has defied the odds as she graduated with a postgraduate certificate in education, with no outstanding fees, all thanks to her sewing skills.

Jeanette Niyidufasha arrived in South Africa in 2005 and first obtained a diploma in mathematical technology from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in 2015.

After a year of being unemployed, the married mother-of-two decided to return to CPUT to complete a postgraduate certificate in education, which now enables her to teach maths and physics.

“I have passed through difficult times, God helped me to make it,” she said. Niyidufasha plans to study further.