As part of the president’s efforts to curb the youth unemployment rate in South Africa, he implemented the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) across the country’s Universities. Rhodes University is amongst these institutions of higher learning that are participating in this initiative and it has eagerly welcomed 61 unemployed graduates from the Eastern Cape. This initiative was implemented to give unemployed new graduates an opportunity to work as interns and gain meaningful work experience as this is often a requirement in the job market in South Africa.

The 61 interns were assigned in 35 departments across Rhodes University campus. The Centre for Social Development (CSD) welcomed four interns, namely, Kamvelihle Mgwali, Sinesipho Zimba, Sisanda Vananda and Sinobuhle Saki on the 1^st of June 2022. The university hosted the interns’ welcoming event, where the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Sizwe Mabizela formally welcomed all the PYEI interns on 28^th July 2022. Each intern in the programme is allocated a mentor and the four interns from CSD were accompanied to this welcoming event by Ms. Heide Khuhlane who is the coordinator and lecturer for the B. Ed (Part Time) Foundation Phase Programme offered at CSD. In his speech, the VC highlighted the importance of this initiative as a bridge between the job market and the university environment and that this initiative would equip the interns with the necessary competences and knowledge before entering the job market. In addition, to the skills that the interns would be learning from their mentors at Rhodes, the VC announced that the interns would be attending a Generic Development Programme, which will prepare the interns for any prospective vacancies and will give them a general understanding of the working environment.

After all the interns had introduced themselves, refreshments were served, and the interns got an opportunity to network with their colleagues and peers. The CSD interns are appreciative of this opportunity to be part of this such an impactful initiative.