As is common for large, successful South African companies, Exxarro bursaries in South Africa are available for students looking for financial aid with specific career goals in mind. Based in South Africa, Exxaro is a business which mines primarily coal, mineral sands, metals and industrial minerals. The company operates mining sites around the world but especially in Asia and Australia as well as throughout the African continent. Beyond mining operations, Exxaro has also recently been investigating the option of entering energy markets and in combination with their current activities is a great place to work if a person has a background in geology or engineering.
As nationally offered government bursaries are fairly uncommon or tied up in the potential of having to repay loans, looking at companies like Exxaro to help a student round out their financial aid needs is always a good idea. Common to many other South African bursary programs, students should expect to work for the company during or after graduation as they repay their debt through time worked. While this sort of deal may seem like it benefits the company more than it does the individual student, in reality providing a relatively stable job and immediate post undergraduate experiences are extremely valuable to freshly graduated students. Should their job not pan out after their repayment period comes to a close, these experiences will give students a background which will enhance their abilities to be hired by companies in the future. All in all, bursary schemes are a great way to find financial aid, and bursaries at Exxaro are no exception.
Students interested in bursaries from Exxaro should first take a moment to understand the basic eligibility requirements. Basic eligibility requires that students be at grade 12 preparing to graduate from a secondary institution scoring high on the math and sciences portion of the matriculation examinations. Further students must also be residents of South Africa and be interested in obtaining a degree from a specific field. The fields which an Exxaro bursary accepts is engineering, commerce and science. The specific degrees that Exxaro is looking for include but are not limited to degrees in mechanical, electrical or mining engineering, finance, information technology, geology or metallurgy. Exxaro bursaries are also made available for those students studying mining or mine surveying. As with many other South African bursary programs, Exxaro always maintains the right to limit what programs they will give bursaries to based on economic need.
Comparing Exxaro bursaries to other schemes available in South Africa it becomes pretty clear that the available program is on par with the status quo. Exxaro bursaries cover university tuition fees, registration costs, exam fees, living arrangements, food and also provides for basic spending money. Unlike some other bursary programs there is no indication that Exxaro bursaries provide for travel between home and a student’s university of choice. Of course this should by no means deter interested applicants from applying to the program as, should they win an award, the amount which Exxaro bursaries do cover overall is still immense.
Students who receive an Exxaro bursary are expected to sign a binding agreement which requires them to work for Exxaro until the relative amount of the bursary has been repaid through hours worked. In order to apply for this bursary scheme students are expected to hand write their application. In order to accomplish this task, students should prepare a curriculum vita expressing their learning experiences and job history. Further students will be expected to submit their grade 11 scores for analysis by the Exxaro selection committee on top of which their later grade 12 matriculation scores will be assessed. Only a limited number of Exxaro bursaries will be made available every year so it is necessary, due to the highly competitive nature of the program, to craft a CV which will indicate to the selection committee a sincere interest in engineering, mining or geological sciences. The deadline for Exxaro bursary scheme applicants is April 1, 2011.