Labour

Against a background of a growing number of graduate school leavers in South Africa who cannot afford a tertiary education, the AngloGold Ashanti bursary scheme focuses primarily on identifying and supporting promising students with aptitudes particularly, engineering sciences.

In 2004 a total of 112 students benefited from the scheme at a cost of R11.5 million ($1.79 million).

Bursaries are offered for full-time studies at either universities or universities of technology (formerly technikons) in the fields of mining engineering, geology, survey, electrical/mechanical engineering, metallurgy and other mining-related fields of study.

Bursaries are advertised to prospective students via targeted recruitment and career publications, postings on faculty notice boards and visits to high schools and tertiary institutions.

The bursary attends to the most crucial needs for qualifying applicants. It offers 100% tuition and residence fees. An out-of-residence allowance is also offered should the bursar prefer to make use of private accommodation. Also, a generous cash allowance to cover the cost of books and incidental personal expenses is made available. Other facilities that come with the bursary are:

• a laptop computer provided in the third academic year;
• guaranteed vacation work at the end of every academic year; and
• personal attention by dedicated AngloGold Ashanti staff.

Successful completion of the required degree may result in an offer of employment for training. Bursars commit to a year's service for each year of bursary support and a new contract is negotiated if the bursar wishes to continue and if there is a vacancy. However, AngloGold Ashanti - along with the mining industry generally - is faced with a challenge of retaining bursars as many of them leave for 'greener pastures' after serving their contracts. This is exacerbated by the fact that the industry itself is employing fewer people.

Ian Heyns, head of human resources in the South Africa region says, "It is a core value of AngloGold Ashanti that we provide our employees with opportunities to develop their skills. In keeping with this value, opportunities are given to selected employees to pursue full-time studies at a tertiary institution with company support. A total of 34 employees benefited from these opportunities in 2004.

Analysis of AngloGold Ashanti South Africa region bursar population (2004), detailed by discipline of study, type of tertiary institutions and includes the split between historically disadvantaged South Africans (HDSA) and white males.