DUT students win accolades from Chinese Embassy for essay-writing

NINE students from the Durban University of Technology won awards from the South African Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. The awards ceremony was held in Tshwane (Pretoria) on Saturday, November 12, where winners were acknowledged for the work they submitted in the South African University Essay Competition themed, ‘Xi Jinping’s Thought through South African Students’ Eyes’.

Among the dignitaries who attended the event were the deputy minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Buti Manamela, and the Chinese ambassador to South Africa, His Excellency Chen Xiaodong.

Accompanying the DUT students at the event were the acting deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement, Professor Keolebogile Motaung, and Frank Lin Wu, co-director of the DUT Confucius Institute.

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Motaung said the DUT Confucius Institute (CI) was established in 2013 under the witness of the Chinese President, Mr XI Jinping. She added that DUT has partnered with a Chinese university – Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU).

“We are confident that we will continue to develop DUT’s CI as a key people-to-people exchange centre in South Africa, that will deepen academic, scientific and intellectual engagement between FAFU and DUT; that will strengthen the connection and relations between our people, and that will promote mutual trust and friendship between both countries,” said Motaung.

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Frank Lin Wu, co-director of the Confucius Institute at DUT, said: “I am so glad to see that the South African youth are starting to look for the answers – what is enabling China to get out of poverty and what South Africans could learn from China about disciplined thought and disciplined action.”

The DUT winners were among 59 students from six South African universities, including the University of Johannesburg, the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, Rhodes University and the University of Western Cape.

And the winners are…

Mechanical engineering student Vuyo Gxekw won the Ambassador Prize.
Applied management student Ziphezinhle Khonyane and journalism student Dhashen Sevenundan both placed first.
Industrial engineering student Mcebo Linda and financial accounting student Thandeka Luthuli placed second.
Winning the third prize were four students: Kwanyana Qiniso, a financial accounting student; Mfundo Phonswa, an information technology student; Lebogang Mononyane, a somatology student, and Sanele Ntuli, a mechanical engineering student.