Change the world

02/10/2019

Reasons to be Proud - #R2bP: Four Mandela University students have been included in this year’s prestigious GradStar Top 100, with one being placed in the Top 10.

The four students included in the Top 100 were Adrianne Johnson (BA Honours in Public Administration), Funeka Mbatha (BCom Honours in Economics), Lesego Nkosi (BA Psychology and Sociology) and  Ntsako Mogatosi (MA Psychology) is our Top 10 star.

Ntsako is a BPsych graduate and is currently a candidate for her Master’s in Psychology Research. She is a registered Counsellor and has worked at PE College as a Student Counsellor. She was also a mentor at Charlotte Maxeke Residence (formerly Lebombo), helping first years adapt to university life and cope with mental health.

GradStar recognises the best university students in the country.  It is a uniquely developed programme that focuses on quality connections, and compliments existing employer programmes. The programme, now in its fourth year, is designed to provide previously unrecognised students with opportunities for employment and allow them to contribute positively to South Africa’s future growth. These university students show the best potential as the country’s future leaders.

The competition process is designed to emulate the process that top employers use to find their future talent, and uses behavioural testing and personal interviewing amongst other methods as measurement tools. It allows students to familiarise themselves with the formal graduate programme application process, and enables them to identify their own strengths and weaknesses along the way.

After receiving thousands of entries from across the country and putting the entrants through a rigorous two-phase (four stages) judging process, South Africa’s Top 10 university students were unearthed from the Top 100.

All Top 100 Students were recognised at a Gala Dinner held in Johannesburg in September. The GradStar programme's patron, Dr David Molapo, congratulated the students saying “This is a worthy programme. It is designed to uplift the student youth and provide an aspirational platform to assist them in achieving their potential.”

From left: Funeka Mbatha, Adrianne Johnson, Lesego Nkosi, Ntsako Mogatosi.