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Abe Bailey Scholarship for DUT’s Fathima

Abe Bailey Scholarship for DUT’s Fathima

Fathima Bibi Shaik, a DUT Bachelor of Health Science Degree in Emergency Healthcare (BHSc: EMC) graduate is set to leave for London this month (November) after being awarded the prestigious Abe Bailey Travel Scholarship.

The Abe Bailey Travel Bursary Scholarship which was established in terms of the Will of Sir Abe Bailey. The Trustees of the Abe Bailey Trust make funds available for travel bursaries known as the Abe Bailey Bursaries. These bursaries give selected university students and university staff of junior lecturer status an opportunity to visit the United Kingdom to participate in educational tours according to an approved programme.

The objective of the Travel Bursary Scholarship is to broaden the views of young South Africans by enabling outstanding students who show exceptional leadership qualities and a strong service ethic to effect greater understanding and co-operation among those with various language and cultural backgrounds; to foster enterprise, commitment and effective participation in a common future as well as to promote South African unity.

The Abe Bailey Scholarship adds to Shaik’s other academic achievements such as Top Student for Anatomy and Physiology in 2012, Top Student in the second year Bachelor of Health Science 2013 class, an A aggregate with all subjects passed with distinction for all years of study from 2012 to 2016 as well as Highest Academic Achievement for the Bachelor of Health Science 2015 class.

“I am truly honoured and humbled to have been selected. From a career point of view, the Abe Bailey Scholarship will give me, a young South African, an opportunity to network with other professionals and students from around South Africa,” she said.

Shaik received her BTech degree in April 2016 where she graduated with cum laude and received the Dean’s Merit Award for academic excellence. She has been serving as a junior lecturer within the Emergency Medical Care and Rescue Department at DUT since February 2016 which has prompted her to do her Master’s degree in the same discipline.

The excited Shaik looks forward to going overseas and learning more from the many different people she will meet. “Being overseas will contribute towards a horizontal exchange of professional and academic experiences which would be mutually rewarding to all participants. Born in South Africa during the new democratic period of the late Nelson Mandela’s rainbow nation, I have been part of a society with mixed languages and cultural backgrounds, and these interactions have shaped and developed my leadership abilities,” she said.

Shaik advises students who wish to receive the scholarship to work hard and demonstrate great responsibility, community and global awareness, love life and commitments to service excellence. “The travel bursary is an opportunity to grow intellectually, to simply experience and respect different cultures. Returning such experience to our country will enrich society. The award is not based on luck but based on individual merit, so aim high and wear your invisible crown,” she added

– Phumeza Msongelwa

Pictured: Fathima Bibi Shaik during her graduation.

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