In what is thought to be a South African first, six deaf IT students are graduating this Friday (12 May) from Belgium Campus iTversity NPC, each with a three-year Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) degree.
“We collaborate with the industry to provide these students with the financial support necessary to forge successful futures through higher education,” says Dr Elaine van Wyk, chief marketing officer at Belgium Campus, which has campuses in Pretoria, Kempton Park and Stellenbosch.
The institution boasts a 100% graduate employment rate for its students, and provides no fewer than 8% of the ICT graduates in South Africa.
The six deaf graduating students are:
* Admar Claassen (29) from Bougainville, Paarl;
* Nkululeko Lekokoane (29) from Soweto;
* Violen Moonee (27) from Darnall in KwaZulu Natal;
* Yazeed Moosa (29) from Portlands in Western Cape;
* Sieshane Perumal (27) from Westville, KwaZulu Natal; and
* Trevolin Pillay (23) from Chatsworth, KwaZulu Natal.
Five of the graduates were sponsored by Liberty, with Tirisano sponsoring the sixth. The six students who will be graduating previously completed the institution’s Diploma in Information Technology before returning to further their studies.
“We are the first higher education institution in the country to offer a dedicated bachelor’s degree and IT diploma for deaf students,” says Dr Van Wyk. “We have also made provision to allow students with other disabilities, long-term medical conditions, or special needs to complete their IT studies with us. This allows us to breathe life into the tremendous talents and business concepts of often marginalised groups within society.”
Belgium Campus is also developing a technical deaf dictionary, which it expects will further open the doors to deaf students entering the IT economy.