Regenesys Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Regenesys Business School, on May 22 launched a Covid-19 lockdown education initiative with a R100-million pledge, which will be used to reduce course fees by 60%.
Regenesys Foundation enabled Regenesys Business School to make the pledge.
This limited opportunity is available for the first 500 students to register for an online MBA, bachelor’s, diploma or certificate programme for the period from May to August.
Regenesys Business School chairperson Dr Marko Saravanja says Regenesys is deeply committed to helping all members of society that have been affected by pay cuts and job losses to develop a competitive edge and bounce back from the pandemic or to start their own new venture.
Regenesys Foundation head Indherani Reddy says the online learning qualifications are of the highest quality and are fully accredited.
“This initiative has been made possible by generous support from the Regenesys community of alumni, students, staff, part-time faculty and friends of Regenesys from over 20 countries who have pledged various types of support ranging from cash to lecturing, tutoring, assessments, research supervision, mentoring and coaching, as well as salary sacrifices.”
Reddy adds that, alongside this project, Regenesys Foundation also launched a programme, before the Covid-19 pandemic, called Ed4All, which helps impoverished people seeking education opportunities.
“This helps people that would otherwise never have the ability to afford tuition fees, even if Regenesys afforded them an 80% discount. What Ed4All aims to do is empower these individuals to pay R500 a month for the next three years to secure these fees for their study duration.”
The course places are limited to 500 and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis to eligible students from South Africa, India, Nigeria and all other African countries.
Regenesys Business School has educated over 200 000 students over the past 23 years.
Saravanja says Regenesys Business School thought of ways to help government, instead of the school going to government and asking for their help.
“We came up with an innovative model whereby we went to our international community and asked for help. By mobilising this support, we were able to reduce our course fees by 60%.”
He also encourages other higher education institutions to do similar things and mobilise their broader communities and alumni to help reduce course fees so that more people can be educated during these difficult times.
“Education will play a key role in rebuilding society and the economy post Covid-19 and this will go a long way in addressing that issue.”