Adding a stone to the pile
According to Dr Sizwe Mabizela, vice-chancellor of Rhodes University, “it cannot be and it should not be that an academically talented young person should be deprived of an opportunity to acquire higher education simply because he or she is born into a family of meagre means. I was a beneficiary of bursaries and scholarships throughout my university studies. It therefore felt natural for me to contribute towards similar opportunities for other young people.”
There are a number of challenges to address creatively if Rhodes is to maintain its position in educating young people who will become agents of social change and societal transformation: remaining an an institution that produces knowledgeable and skilled graduates who critically engage with knowledge and its production and who are democratic citizens and ethical leaders committed to the values of human understanding, social justice, human development and service to society.
A primary challenge is meeting the financial demands of a growing institution and student body in a climate of diminishing state expenditure on higher education. This decline in state support means that universities have to rely increasingly on student fees to maintain their operations. However, under present economic circumstances, families struggle to afford inflation-related fee increases, and even more so those students who come from families of meagre means. To this end, the vice-chancellor will launch Isivivane, a campaign that will run for ten years (2016-2026).
Isivivane is a pile of stones placed together on a spot along a foot path to honour a particular cause. Each traveller is expected to place a stone in the isivivane as they pass that spot. Each traveler who adds a stone to the isivivane becomes part of the common purpose and identifies with the good cause for which the isivivane was started.
Transformation of the student body at Rhodes that sees black Africans accounting for over 60% of the student body should be seen as a key indicator of success. However, this has brought with it the challenges of funding a changed population, many of who come from exceptionally poor backgrounds and who are often first-generation university entrants. The Isivane Fund is meant to assist Rhodes to meet its promise of attracting academically deserving indigent students from working- and middleclass backgrounds.
Rhodes University has supplemented National Student Financial sequently left to fend for itself. Fee payers are often the public servants, shop-workers and small business owners who simply do not have sufficient after-tax disposable income to fund their children’s university studies,” said Mabizela.
The Isivivane Fund is an integrated approach to building and maintaining lifelong relationships based on the development of a unique and special partnership between Rhodes University, its students and alumni, and donors.
The name is inspired by the Zulu proverb “Ukuphosa itshe esivivaneni” [to throw one’s stone on the pile or monument] — to make a personal contribution to a great common cause. The main goal of the Isivivane Fund is to secure sufficient funding from the community of Rhodes and beyond to ensure no academically capable but financially needy student (undergraduate or postgraduate) is refused entry to Rhodes University.
The fund has four goals:
financially needy students at undergraduate level;
Rhodes University’s postgraduate trajectory;
tain residences and dining halls; and
ment for future sustainability of Rhodes student financial aid.
“Just as Rhodes will never stop seeking the best students, we must also constantly reaffirm our commitment to making a Rhodes education accessible to everyone. This initiative is our opportunity as a Rhodes community to make a significant statement to the world that we are truly ‘where leaders learn,’” said Mabizela.