100-UP

100UP is a UCT project that aims to address the problem of under-representation by targeting school learners from disadvantaged backgrounds and coaching them towards access to the university.  The programme is a holistic initiative that builds intellectual, social and cultural capital. The learners are groomed over three years by staff and students across the university.

The pilot project started in 2011 in Khayelitsha, with five Grade 10 learners identified from each of the 20 high schools in the area. 100UP is now running at capacity, with a total of 300 learners (100 per Grades 10 – 12) per year, enrolled in the programme.

An additional group of ‘university potential’ Grade 12 learners, branded the GILL NET group, is brought on board after June each year in order to extend our reach as broadly as possible across the 20 Khayelitsha schools.

In 2014, 70 of the first cohort of 100UP and GILL NET learners entered UCT as 100UP+ students.  Their performance in the project, demonstrates the success of this pioneering UCT intervention.  A longer-term objective is to use 100UP to build institutional knowledge and experience that can better inform the university’s bridging programmes and school-based interventions. GO TO http://www.sii.uct.ac.za/sii/100up.