The bursary & opportunity map

The largest single block. Civil, electrical, mechanical and mining dominate. Funded by mines, state-owned enterprises and construction — sectors that cannot import talent fast enough. Requires Pure Maths and Physical Science, without exception.

The fastest-growing block and the one most open to non-traditional entry. WeThinkCode_ takes people with no degree and no coding experience. Amazon, AWS, Cisco, HP, Sage, IITPSA and Accenture all fund here.

Banks and asset managers fund heavily and early. Highest graduate starting salaries in the country sit here — actuarial, quant, investment analysis all clear R470k median entry. Pure Maths is non-negotiable.

Corporate and foundation money that is not tied to a discipline — Absa, Ninety One, Moshal, CRET, Tiso, Old Mutual. Usually selects on financial need plus academic potential rather than subject choice.

Provincial health departments are the biggest funders and they fund at full cost, with a work-back. SA lost 124,123 healthcare workers from public facilities between 2013 and 2025, so demand is structural, not cyclical.

Systematically underrated. Levy-funded industry bodies (Maize Trust, Citrus Academy, Hortgro, SACTA, AgriSETA) fund consistently and face far fewer applicants than engineering or finance. Postgraduate rates are strong.

The most structured pipeline in South Africa. Every Big 4 firm plus AGSA, BDO, RSM and Forvis Mazars fund the CA(SA) route, and SAICA Thuthuka funds it at scale. Funding here comes with a guaranteed training contract, which is rare.

SARS, Treasury, SANAS, Tourism, Compensation Fund. Long deadlines, less competition, and SANAS in particular funds ANY field of study — one of the most overlooked options in the country.

Chevening, Gates Cambridge, DAAD, Schwarzman and the Flanagan Scholarship. Postgraduate only — but worth knowing the ladder continues.

NRF and the science councils. Not relevant to school learners directly, but worth knowing the ladder continues and is funded.

Funza Lushaka is the single biggest teaching bursary and the deadline is late (31 Jan 2027). Chronically under-applied for relative to the size of the shortage.

Small but real. NFVF covers 100% of tuition for film and TV; SARB funds Fine Arts. Two programmes, so the odds are long but the applicant pool is thin.

The growth story. Enel and Letsatsi fund by geography, not by field, near wind and solar sites. Renewables employ roughly 6,000 people permanently today but the build-out is where the next decade of jobs sits.

Anglo American at R150k–R250k per year. Mining still funds heavily but the pipeline is narrowing as the sector consolidates.

Thin at undergraduate level. Canon Collins funds postgraduate justice and humanities. This is the honest weak spot in the SA bursary market.

A handful of national high school scholarships sit inside the main list; the rest live on the school funding table below.