YES! Scholarship
At the heart of the programme lies the prestigious YES! scholarship. This was founded with the intention of supporting engineering students who, despite difficult domestic or social circumstances, were able to excel in their academic studies and were not currently recipients of other funding. Since its inception and through the support of more than 60 donors over the years, the scholarship has been awarded to 18 engineering students across UCT and Wits.
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Mentoring Services
The large network of donors and collaborators enables the programme to offer mentoring services to interested university students. These can take the form of once-off sessions or ongoing one-on-one sessions, all facilitated virtually. Whether you are a mentee interested in being paired with a suitable mentor, or a mentor looking to share some insights and wisdom from your experiences, please click on the Mentoring tab on the header for more information.
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Lecturing
The programme also offers university lectures on the role of engineers in industry. Since YES! is independent of company affiliation, the lectures offer different perspectives from a wide range of industry professionals, including those that are not practicing pure engineering. This offers a unique insight for students to consider as they enter the working world. The lectures can be tailored for different years of students, ranging from general overview information, to specifics that may be of interest to job-seekers. For more information, please click on the Lectures tab on the header.
UNIVERSITY COLLABORATORS
University of Cape Town (UCT)
University of Witwatersrand (Wits)
University of Johannesburg (UJ)
History
The Young Engineers Scholarship (YES!) programme was founded by Harshad Bhikha and Sergio Cieverts in 2011. Both UCT Chemical Engineering alumni and recipients of various funding during their degrees, they recognised the need for a programme that would offer a wide range of services to university students to better prepare them for the working world.
The programme is administered entirely in their personal capacities, with co-contributors and donors from universities and companies around the country, united by a shared goal to make a difference in someone's life and afford them the great opportunities that a university education can enable.
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The programme offers its services as a Non Profit Company, registered as YES Scholarship NPC (2017/429772/08).