The principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Venda said the donation of R309 000 from the Land Bank could not have arrived at a better time, as it was most needed by his institution.

He was responding after the cheque was officially handed to him by officials from the Land Bank, during a special function held at the university council chambers last week. This was made possible through the partnership between the University of Venda agricultural chair and the Land Bank.

The chair of agriculture at Univen was established in the 2003/4 academic year as a partnership agreement between the Land Bank and the University of Venda to develop agriculture and research in South Africa. The main goal of the Land Bank chair of agriculture is to promote human capacity and research in the area of agriculture and rural development. Over the past five years, the Land Bank has made a contribution of R922, 810 to the University of Venda to support the activities of the Land Bank chair of agriculture.

The fund has provided financial support to about 62 post-graduate students, many of whom have successfully completed their degree programme.

The vice-chancellor and principal of Univen, Prof Peter Mbati, said students were still doing well, despite the challenges of resources. “Univen still has to contend with resource challenges which are further worsened by the fact that a large pool of our students is unable to meet financial obligations to the university, because they come from impoverished backgrounds,” he said. “We are aware of the obligation as a university that we have to develop high-quality human resource capacity which will serve as a driver in achieving government’s desired economic growth rate, particularly in fields such as agriculture. We therefore sincerely appreciate the generosity and magnanimous role the Land Bank plays in supporting our academic programmes to achieve this vision.”