An estimated 700 learners, parents, educators and other interested persons braved the cold on Friday and Saturday morning to visit the annual Open Day at NMMU’s George Campus at Saasveld on 18 and 19 May.
Forty-four high schools from the Garden Route area including local schools from George, Knysna, Oudtshoorn, Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay; but also from areas much further afield such as Stellenbosch, Worcester, Morreesburg, Bredasdorp, Riversdal, Mooirivier, Nelspruit, Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth were determined to “discover their dreams” at the Open Day. Learners from South Cape College also attended the open day in groups, while individual visitors came from as far as Gauteng to discover what NMMU George can offer them in terms of specific niche programmes, and to experience the natural environment and ambiance which makes this campus with its cutting-edge approach to teaching and learning unique in South Africa.
Education sector network event
Open Day incorporated an educators’ network seminar on the Saturday morning. Dr Tulsi Morar, Acting Director of the School for Initial Teacher Education (SITE) from NMMU’s faculty of Education addressed the audience on “The challenge of preparing learners for higher education, and how NMMU addresses this through the training of teachers”.
The networking event also served to acknowledge the George Campus’ Top Partner Schools for 2012. The following schools were identified: Hoërskool Outeniqua (George), York High School (George), Hoërskool Punt (Mossel Bay), Maritzburg College (Pietermaritzburg), Glenwood House (private school in George and Imizamo Yethu Secondary School (George). Imizamo Yethu was specifically applauded for the significant progress the school had made by increasing its matric throughput rate from under 30% to over 80% at the end of last year.
“University under one roof”
All programmes offered at George Campus within the Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, the Faculty of Education, as well as the School of Natural Resource Management (Faculty of Science) were well represented at the Open Day.
Open Day typically represents “the university under one roof” and also included Port Elizabeth-based faculties such as the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering, the Build Environment and Information Technology; the Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, as well as the Faculty of Science which, besides the emphasis on the programmes that reside within the School of Natural Resource Management, also focused on other study areas within the natural and physical sciences, such Physics and Geosciences.
In addition, value-adding services such as NMMU’s Disability Unity, the Sport Office, the Student Counseling, Career and Development Centre, the Writing Centre and Supplemental Instruction Unit, Financial Aid, Student Housing and Student Affairs also exhibited – all with the purpose of assisting prospective students in getting a step closer to understanding what NMMU can offer them in terms of realizing their dreams of further studies.
The most popular career and study fields identified by learners during a structured survey over the two days included Education , Accounting, Business Management, Social Work, Law, Nursing , Information Technology & Computer Science ,Tourism Management , Botany and Engineering.
Winning stalls
The general high standard of the stalls and the service rendered by those in attendance, presented a challenge to the team of adjudicator who evaluated the stalls.
The Faculty of Education (BEd (FET), George) came out tops in the category of Most Interactive Stalls, with Student Counselling as the category runner-up.
In the Most Visually Appealing category the honours went to the Agricultural Management Programme, Faculty of Science, with the George Campus-based programmes within the Faculty of Business & Economic Sciences; and the Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment & Information Technology (based in Port Elizabeth) as the two deserving runners-up.
Check out our photos in the photo gallery.