VUT Alumnus believes in giving back to the community
VUT Alumnus believes in giving back to the community
VUT Alumnus, Ms Refilwe Mutloana
Nontobeko Zondi
Ms Refilwe Mutloana, the Professional Development Officer at JB Marks Education Trust Fund and a Vaal University of Technology (VUT) Alumnus, believes that VUT gave birth to what she is doing and, therefore, a chance to change people’s lives.
She says that back in high school she was shy, but coming to VUT and having to do group projects and presentations helped her to come out of her shell and learn how to confront and deal with challenges.
“I am now a different person because of VUT and prefer to be proactive rather than reactive,” she said.
Ms Mutloana, who graduated with a BTech in Chemistry and who also worked as a lab technician from 2009 to 2013 at VUT, says she is very happy in her current role even though it is not what she studied for.
Before applying at VUT, she conducted research on a number of universities and VUT came out tops for Chemistry.
“Most prospective students are not taught about the courses that are offered by institutions. My wish is that the recruitment department of VUT will teach these learners more about AP scores and gives in-depth information about the courses offered. We need to educate our people more,” she said.
This is part of what she does in her role as Professional Development Officer.
“When the JB Marks Educational Trust Fund funds a student, the student is expected to go back to the community and give back after they have graduated. The trust fund team goes to different universities and collects application forms and brochures and takes them to communities to educate learners in Grades 11 and 12. Since 2015, the practice has grown so much that they now see about
1 700-2 000 learners a day.
“They also invite their previous beneficiaries who have excelled in different fields to have a one-on-one with learners in order to mentor and coach them on discipline and what they need to do to achieve their dreams.
JB Marks Education Trust Fund has partnered with VUT in a unique way. JB Marks is funding VUT students who are not linked to them and VUT registers students funded by JB Marks but who do not have an institution in which to further their studies.
Ms Mutloana likes to support those at universities of technology as she says that these institutions offer the students practical experience before they go out into the industry.
She believes that the VUT Alumni office needs to forge stronger relationships with her office as they do similar things and could help each other reach more people.
“When you are already in an industry, there’s always something to offer back to VUT,” she said.