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The real gold of South Africa resides in its youth …
The Communiversity is a high-impact, innovative venture in community education, focused on college preparation and pre‑professional development.
| 2,000+ Graduates | 3 Current Locations | 12 Years |
Our Purpose
The Communiversity of South Africa provides relevant education for those wanting to go to college and/or advance into a promising career.
Successfully Bridging The Gap
The Communiversity is a college-prep program that bridges the gap between high school and college and/or a good career. All students who are accepted into the program receive a full bursary/scholarship. It is intended for high school graduates and non-graduates from high-risk communities who are seeking a brighter future. It has proven to be a model that prepares young people primarily for college with the aim of helping them become outstanding employees, entrepreneurs, citizens and leaders.
Our Story
Our unique “on-demand” education model
A track record of 2,000+ students since 2012 proves the Communiversity model works:
- “On-Demand” Education: The Communiversity of South Africa is a wholly new educational enterprise—a college-prep program, totally stable but totally flexible in its ability to move the entire operation where the expressed “demand” is most viable.
- We are prepared with a proven system to assist any community. We have defined and refined our processes and approaches, and we have well-trained staff available for teaching and administration. Our courses help local students meet the entrance requirements for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and other colleges.
- We are set up to go to those communities who are most eager to have us. Communities are asked to provide a suitable place of learning for the Communiversity, be it a community centre or another facility, in order to offer its young people real world opportunities.
- As the country changes, so do we. All aspects of the Communiversity—policies, procedures and implementations—are analyzed and re-developed every year.
Our Three Steps of Support
Part 1
Course of Instruction
Students receive instruction in 7-10 different subjects along with introductions to various relevant career fields. We honor and support self-worth and self-sufficiency while giving each student freedom of choice in life.
Part 2
Placement
All Communiversity students receive an in-depth individualized and group mentoring experience to further ensure the best placement whether into college, apprenticeships, learnerships or employment.
Part 3
Continued Support of Alumni
All Communiversity graduates are provided with ongoing support and encouragement on their paths to fulfilling their career and personal goals. Our graduates also help us keep track of their accomplishments at college and thereafter which serve as a record of their growth and as part of our Communiversity database.
The Communiversity = A Portal to the World
- One of the most difficult outcomes of growing up without educational or financial opportunities and resources is the lack of access to the larger community. Your world becomes whatever is happening in your room, your street or at best, in your community. With the internet, all this has changed but without a computer or a smart phone to awaken the connections, you are still cut off from the world.
- Then there is the financial, social and emotional result of being cut off. You generally feel like a failure, especially if you have not been able to pass the exams enabling you to go to college or to start a decent job. Your vision for the future shrinks. You lose hope. You stay in your room with nothing to do, or worse, enter into a world that is available — the world of drugs and crime.
- Most students entering the Communiversity enter with stories reflecting the above situation. Within a few months, they say their lives are totally changed. The Communiversity serves as a portal to the world, opening doors, minds, hearts and a promising future. You can watch and read their stories here.
The Communiversity Story
As is well-known, South Africa has faced and continues to face a huge educational void that has translated into many forms of social and economic unease, inequity and even desperation. The Communiversity of South Africa was started as a drop in this ocean – to give a second chance in life to some of the vast numbers of young people who may have completed high school or dropped out but who are sitting home doing nothing or in gangs or drug-related activities – youth without access to employment or college – who constitute the great majority of the 35% unemployed in South Africa.
In 2012, the idea came to go into a community that was a former squatter camp and offer a high-impact college and work prep program for young people – a local access road to a promising future. Employing exceptional retired teachers and professionals along with young college graduates and providing a stable learning environment for other NGOs to accomplish their educational goals, the Communiversity has been built with partnerships and good will. The Communiversity has become a successful pathway for high school graduates and dropouts alike to enter technical college, other colleges and universities, or to enter the workplace, or start businesses. It is the only non-governmental program of its kind in the Cape Town area and so far as we know, in all of South Africa.
The Communiversity opened a second location in 2017 and moved to another location in 2019 and is now situated in three underserved communities with more possibilities to come. It has proven to be an effective model with strong outcomes in tune with national needs that could be replicated throughout South Africa and even the continent in order to fulfill a universal mandate that all persons, from any community, must have the chance to rise economically and socially, according to their highest personal goals.
Innovative in both scope and operations, such as hiring its own graduates as administrators, the Communiversity prepares students cognitively and emotionally to grow from feelings of failure and symptoms of PTSD to higher self-esteem, deep confidence and a focused commitment towards a real career.
This is accomplished in four months. Behavior and attitude count as much towards college recommendations as do academics. The courses include English, Maths (Literacy), Computer Skills, Engineering Science, Transcendental Meditation, Debating, Economics and Finance (Worth Wealthy Me), Career Guidance, Design Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Yes to Success. (Students are offered as many of these courses and workshops as time permits during each intake). Inspirational guest speakers such as Nobel Laureate Lehmah Gbowee of Liberia round out the mind- and world-opening curriculum!
An average of 93% of Communiversity graduates enter technical colleges or universities.
Over 2,000 students have now been through the program with an average dropout rate of 12% and an average of 93% of graduates going to college. The top local technical colleges in Cape Town offer priority entrance to Communiversity graduates with full scholarships in work-relevant fields such as IT, construction (including boat building), tourism, solar tech, hospitality/culinary, teaching, nursing, business administration and engineering.
Students graduating from Communiversity are being accepted at these local colleges and universities.
“This is what is so inspiring. This is a fantastic thing. When you just get this little bit of something that is transformational and it’s really making a difference. It’s like a little plant – it looks like a small thing but it can be replicated. That’s what excites me and inspires me. This is optimism! It’s wonderful, wonderful!”
Annie Lennox
SINGER/ACTIVIST/PHILANTHROPIST. CO-BENEFACTOR, WITH SIR ELTON JOHN, OF THE VRYGROND COMMUNITY CENTRE, ORIGINAL HOME OF THE COMMUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
“I am so proud of the young people at the Communiversity, and I am so impressed with this programme!”
Patricia de Lille
FORMER MAYOR OF CAPE TOWN
Watch our video with Annie Lennox and Mayor de Lille:
“The learners who were enrolled at the Communiversity before entering our college are very confident and able to deal with challenges in a more mature manner. Our staff and faculty noticed that they need fewer interventions with Communiversity graduates and can thus focus on teaching. It helps our college improve the results of our faculty.”
Jeremy Schuster
FALSE BAY COLLEGE, ACADEMIC HEAD, OCCUPATIONAL PROGRAMMES