Change the world

Forestry master's student represent NMMU(published February 2012)

KUTELANI Tshivhase, NMMU Forestry Master's student represented the International Forestry Students' Association at the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) summit in Doha Qatar, at the end of last year.

He attended the Forest Day 6.


 

First International Alumni Representatives (published February 2013)

BTECH Forestry student Sikhumbuzo Nxumalo (right) made history as one of the first two students from Africa elected to serve on the Board of the General Assembly of International Forestry Students Association (IFSA) held in Istanbul at the end of last year.

In addition, MTech student Hannes van Zyl was re-elected to serve for a second term as the IFSA representative for the Southern African Region, with Director of the School of Natural Resource Management School Director Prof Jos Louw, elected to the General Assembly as Honorary member from South Africa for his outstanding contribution to the Gorestry Industry outside IFSA.


Graduate job-hunting success (Published February 2013)

INDUSTRIAL and Organisation Pyschology graduate, Nthabiseng Makhoba, recently started her career at Nestle thanks to the assistance she received from NMMU's Beyond the Classroom Leadership Programme (BtC) last year. Makhoba is also a former Student Alumni Society executive member.

Assistance was given by kim Elliot, preparing her CV, portfolio and interview preparation. Makhoba is one of only two Human Resources applicants selected from over 6000 applicants countyrwide. She also managed to secure a job for her twin sister as of beginning February in the process.


Workshop highlights need to involve alumni (published February 2013)

Schools from all over Nelson Mandela Bay are banding together in a much needed drive to help improve struggling schools highlighting the importance of tapping into the expertise of past pupils.

The second workshop was a joint venture between the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the district Education Department where principals where encouraged not to wait for government to improve their situations but take the initiative.

NMMU Director: Alumni Relations, Paul Geswindt called on principals of disadvantaged schools to call on high-profile alumni from whom they could benefit.


Alumnus Zambezia success (published February 2013)

BTECH Fine Art graduate, Stuart Forest, CEO and film producer of Triggerfish in Cape Town recently released Adventures in Zambezia, the first animated feature film produced by the country's biggest animation studio, has been sold to 26 distributors worldwide. This makes it the most widely distributed film titles yet to come out of Africa.

The film, voiced by leading American actors including Samuel L Jackson and Abigail Breslin, adventure of Zambezia has also been nominated for two Annie Awards, the most prestigious awards in the animation industry and has been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination. It has also won Best South African Feature Film at the Durban Film Festival in 2012 and has reached number two at the box office in Russia.    


 

Alumwine project boosts education (published February 2013)

THE Cape Town Alumni Chapter of The NMMU's Alumni Association has made it possible for 25 underprivedged schools and learning institutions to have access to free education content through their first roll-out of their charity wine sales project.

Every case of wine purchased will support one learner access to free education content for his or her entire school career. The Cape Town Chapter recently launched this project partnering with various NGO's around South Africa. The Alumwine project offers South Africa's best wines to the public at a 15 percent discount with free door-to-door delivery to raise funds to place OGLE Digital Download Kiosks in struggling schools, where pupils can access and download free curriculum-based educational content. 


 

Graduates unlock code to success (published February 2013)

 Accounting and Informations Systems graduates from NMMU celebrate their company, The Code Group's 3rd birthday this month. The owners of the company, Devereaux Joubert and Mohamed Cassim employ four NMMU graduates have turned their business into a recognisable one with business spreading overseas already.

The Code Group, a software and web development company is responsible for an energy management system for a UK client, a singing competition and judging system with a mobile website used for voting, a race timing system which is currently used by 17 clubs across the country, a cross platform survey system for Blackberry, Android and iPhones, various projects for NMMU including Computing Science, Geosciences, Micrbiology and Statistics among many others.    


Alumnus off to Manhunt (published February 2013)

NMMU BCom graduate, Port Elizabeth model and managing director of IT firm Little Big Technologies, William Heydenrych has been selected to represent South Africa at the 2013 Manhunt International contest in China.

Heydenrych, who was a finalist in the Mr SA competition in 2012 will compete against delegates from more than 50 countries in the hope of becoming South Africa's second winner of this male pageant.