Port Elizabeth was abuzz with activity to welcome the new participants in the 8th Edition NMMU/FIFA/CIES Programme who started their classes on 8 September and to celebrate the 25 7th Edition students who received their diplomas the following day.
The opening and closing ceremonies once again showed the convivial and positive atmosphere that NMMU has contributed to the CIES International University Network Programme for more than seven years now.
The new students were immediately initiated into complex sports management exercises while enjoying a few games intended to break the ice and get to know each other. In all 19 students form part of the new group, coming from places such as Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, Cape Town, East London, Witbank, Queenstown, Pretoria and one student travelling all the way from Sudan. A notable student in this year’s class is legendary Bafana Bafana and Leeds United player, Phil Masinga. Phil attended the official launch of the FIFA/CIES/NMMU initiative in 2007 as a 2010 Ambassador and now 7 years later finds himself sitting in the programme as a student.
As for the 7th Edition graduates, they celebrated their success in style at the Beach Hotel in Summerstrand with their own Brazil World Cup theme party and appreciated the official speeches as well as the carefully packaged photo review of their months of study at NMMU. This all happened in the presence of Victor Exner, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Khaya Matiso, Dean of Students at NMMU and Vincent Monnier, Senior Manager for International Relations at CIES. A highlight during the evening was when the top achieving students were announced namely Matthew Blair (1st), Marnus de Klerk (2nd) and Evangelos Moutzouris (3rd).
After receiving their diplomas, Lorinda Nel and Urban de Kock spoke on behalf of their classmates. In speeches combining humour and emotion, they emphasised that “the NMMU/FIFA/CIES Programme is unique in many aspects: Its academic quality, the choice of guest speakers and the network of friendships created during the curriculum. There is definitely a life before and a life after the Programme.”
We extend our hearty congratulations to the students who have successfully completed their qualification and welcome the new students as they embark on what will be a memorable journey.
Below from left to right: Prof Denver Hendricks and Matthew Blair