The Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust (CRET) Bursary Programme

admin October 10, 2022

2 minutes read

DEADLINE: 31 October 2022

What is the Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust (CRET) Bursary Programme?

The Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust (CRET) is a programme of the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation, which is an independent non-profit organisation that improves lives and creates opportunities through education and enterprise development.

In 1996 Cyril Ramaphosa began supporting disadvantaged students with bursaries to attend university. He did this by donating money he earned from his public speaking engagements. This resulted in the establishment of the Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust (CRET) in 2000.

CRET has a different approach to the management of its education programme and aims to recruit candidates that would ordinarily be overlooked by other bursary programmes, which may only seek out top academic achievers. This is a bursary scheme that considers the holistic needs of selected student as well as their potential, and with support, nurturing and mentoring, will rise above their circumstances to become future leaders. leadership CRET also look for entrepreneurial and capability candidates and expect a demonstrable ingrained ethos of community service and a commitment to “paying it forward”. Today, there are over 200 beneficiaries of the programme, and CRET has been fortunate enough to develop exponentially with the support of additional corporate sponsors and partners.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any student from a financially needy background who can demonstrate such need. CRET’s goal is to provide financial assistance for those students who, without additional support, would not apply to study further and/or complete their chosen qualification. Preference will be given each year to essential and scarce skills education applicants as determined by the Department of Labour, various SETAs, and other labour and economic advisors.

Further non-negotiable criteria:

Learners, or unemployed youth between the ages of 16 and 27 years, who want to complete a recognised undergraduate, and other qualification, through a recognised South African public institution
The bursary is only awarded to South African citizens with a valid South African ID number
Bursary applicants must already have applied for study at the accredited institution and provide proof thereof, on application
The bursary applicant is not permitted to change the area of specialisation on which basis the bursary was applied for, based on the acceptance letter from the institution
The applicant should demonstrate good academic, leadership and empathetic ability, with high values and developmental communication skills
Financial needs analysis – basic household income not exceeding R650 000 per annum.