A UK Charity for Supporters and Alumni of the University of Cape Town
Projects
UCT needs the support of its alumni to help it maintain and build on the quality of its education – to continue to deliver consistently high standards and equip students with the skills necessary to meaningfully contribute to South Africa and its ability to compete globally.
The UK Alumni Bursary Programme
Capital projects such as the new residences and Economics building, or the restoration of the Little Theatre
SHAWCO – the Students’ Health and Welfare Centres Organisation
Faculty of Health Sciences projects such as the Perinatal Mental Health Project
Your gift will be a long term investment in South Africa and will undoubtedly help to change lives.
UK Alumni Bursary Programme
A number of UK based alumni contribute to the UK Alumni Bursary Fund which supported four students at UCT in 2009. All of these students came from disadvantaged backgrounds and could not have contemplated continuing their studies without financial aid. Read more...
Bursaries such as these not only immeasurably change the students’ lives, but also the lives of their families. Supporters of this programme are kept updated with reports on the progress of the students they are helping.
If you would like to help more young people achieve their dreams, please consider making a contribution to the UK Alumni Bursary Programme.
Capital Projects at UCT
A new residence building is currently under construction in Observatory. This building will provide another 880 beds and its primary focus is to ensure that all black African students who come to UCT from the townships surrounding Cape Town can be allocated spaces in residences. These students come from crowded, deprived homes in crime-ridden areas, where it is impossible to study and where there are no computer facilities. Travel to and from their homes is dangerous late at night, making use of the library for study very difficult. This has been a major factor in the failure of many young black students – despite obvious ability – to progress beyond even the first year, and UCT is anxious to address this problem. This residence will be particularly important to UCT’s many young black medical students. It is sited close to the Faculty of Health Sciences and therefore is an ideal home and safe environment for these young aspiring health professionals – especially with their longer teaching hours.
To make a contribution to this key project, please tick appropriate box on pledge form. Naming rights for individual rooms are available for significant contributions over 5 years : please contact UCT Trust for details.
A new building is being erected on Middle Campus to house the School of Economics. UCT’s School of Economics has been ranked first among economics departments at South African universities for the past five years and almost 20% of the total cohort of c.24,000 students at UCT take courses in economics. The new building recognizes the need to provide appropriate and adequate physical infrastructure to maintain excellence in academic programmes and outputs.
Interested alumni may wish to make monthly/quarterly/annual pledges over 5 years towards this project.
The Little Theatre, on UCT’s Hiddingh Campus, is in dire need of renovation. This project forms part of the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA) which, thanks to a generous grant from Sir Donald Gordon, founder of Liberty Life, aims to enhance the Arts at UCT. GIPCA is bringing together the six separate performing and creative arts disciplines into one integrated Institute. From its inception, the Institute has had two key goals : interdisciplinary collaboration and excellence, and the renovation of Hiddingh campus. GIPCA is achieving the first goal by granting special project awards and fellowships, archiving creative and performance materials, and organising innovative interdisciplinary events. Funds are now urgently required for the second phase, the first task of which is the upgrade of the Little Theatre. It is currently in such a state of disrepair that its future as one of Cape Town’s pre-eminent spaces for student and professional production is threatened.
Interested alumni may wish to make monthly/quarterly/annual pledges over 5 years towards this project.
Perinatal Mental Health Project:
Caring for Mothers, Caring for the Future
In South Africa, one out of every three women experiences depression during or after pregnancy. The majority of these live in deprived communities and many are often also coping with a lack of support, violence, HIV/Aids and substance abuse.
The PMHP is an innovative project, developing practical models for mental health service integration with a four pronged strategy : screening and providing psychiatric services free of charge, training health workers, undertaking and disseminating research, and developing creative advocacy strategies.
The PMHP’s vision is for all women to have access to routine mental health care both during and after pregnancy as part of their regular maternal care. Improving the wellbeing of mothers in distress is crucial for the wellbeing and positive development of impoverished communities.
The PMHP is a non-profit entity and is required to generate its own funds in order to continue its life changing work. A donation of just £30 will enable the PMHP to screen ten women, while a gift of £330 will pay for the psychiatric treatment of three needy mothers.
Please consider making a contribution to help enable this enormously important and far reaching project to continue.
Please note that this is just one of the projects currently being undertaken with UCT’s Faculty of Health Sciences. To find out about other projects, please contact UCT Trust.
Percy FitzPatrick Institute of Ornithology:
Celebrating 50 years of excellence
The only ornithological institute in the Southern hemisphere, the “Fitztitute” was founded in 1960 through the vision and drive of Cecily Niven, daughter of Sir Percy FitzPatrick, author of Jock of the Bushveld. Over the last 50 years, the Institute has established a proud record of research, teaching and public awareness of science. The Institute’s MSc in Conservation Biology has graduated more than 200 students from all over the world, including from 18 African countries, and some 85% of its graduates are currently employed in the field of conservation. The Institute has been awarded the prestigious status of a “Centre of Excellence in Birds as Keys to Diversity”, by the SA Dept of Science and Technology, while in 2008 research in Conservation Science at UCT was identified as the most internationally significant of any southern hemisphere university.
Africa has a huge amount of unique biodiversity to protect yet is desperately short of the human capacity to conserve this natural heritage. The Fitztitute aims to develop the conservation leadership of the future who can extend and direct sustainable conservation strategies that will benefit both biodiversity and the people of Africa. Thus, as part of its half-century celebrations, the Fitztitute has launched an Appeal to raise funds of R5 million (c.£455,000), the income from which will fund three or more bursaries for African students each year.
If you would like to make a contribution, however small, towards the African conservation leaders of the future, please use our pledge form.
SHAWCO :
The Students’ Health and Welfare Centres Organisation
SHAWCO, the dynamic, innovative and passionate student-run NGO based at UCT, is constantly striving to improve the quality of life for individuals in impoverished communities around Cape Town. SHAWCO has been running for over 65 years and is one of South Africa’s largest student volunteer organisations, now boasting over 1200 volunteers running more than 15 health and education projects – such as mobile clinics, community health centres and Saturday schools – in 5 SHAWCO centres as well as other locations around the Cape Metropolitan area.
Celebrate your memories of SHAWCO by making a contribution to its life changing work.
For further information on any of the above projects, please contact UCT Trust.
Support UCT
Your gift, however small, will make a difference.
Make a secure online donation via Virgin Money Giving. Simply click on the button and follow the instructions. Facilities for one-off and regular donations are available.
Please email UCT Trust when you have made your online donation to indicate how you wish your gift to be allocated.
Or download a Pledge Form for more donation options.
Please note
Donations made to the UK Trust are tax efficient and attract a further 28% of the value of your gift if you GiftAid it.
Every penny received by UCT Trust will go to the project for which it is intended.
Alumni donors will be kept updated on the progress of the project they have supported.
Thank you so much !