Professor Nthabiseng Ogude, acting director of the Tuks Pre-University Academy. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)
Pretoria - Taking the cue that a country’s biggest asset is its youth, the University of Pretoria's Pre-University Academy will be aiming to produce the next generation of leaders, who are not only grounded in their academic disciplines but also think across disciplinary boundaries.
The university said building on the great success of the Mamelodi Campus Pre-University Academy, it had decided to extend and rebrand its project to not only include more students, but to spread it across to other communities in Pretoria.
According to the university, the Pre-University Academy followed a multi-stakeholder approach to extend its reach from the initial 500 beneficiaries to 30 000 youths due to dire need.
They reported that initially, through the Mamelodi Campus, learners from 20 schools from Mamelodi and surrounding areas were given extra help with their school work, and helped to prepare for tertiary studies.
The programme catered for 300 students in 2020 and 350 in 2021.
Professor Nthabiseng Ogude, acting director of the UP-PreUA, said the ultimate plan was to roll it out nationally, using a hybrid teaching and learning programme which had “excellence” and “developmental” pivots.
Ogude added that the programme for the excellence pivot was offered to Grade 10 learners on Groenkloof Campus, with some science activities hosted in the Sci-Enza space at the Hatfield Campus.
She said the academy aimed to bridge the link between basic and higher education, as the future of higher education depended on the quality of learners that the basic education sector produced.
“The UP-PreUA has been established due to the problems in the basic education system, particularly the lack of qualified teachers in the science, technology, engineering, and maths fields, inadequate resources in some schools, as well as large classes and challenges in teaching learners of diverse academic potential.”
Ogude said the Mamelodi Campus was home to the developmental pivot, which focused on Grade 8 and 9 learners.
Pretoria News