Africa-Press – Mozambique. Thirty students benefited from scholarships for engineering courses at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) as part of a Mozal “Women in Industry” initiative.
Of these scholarships, 20 are for women, five for men and another five for students with disabilities.
Mozal hopes the initiative will contribute to improving gender equality in the industry and the quality of life of girls in the local community.
According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mozal, the contribution aims to “change the paradigm that exists in the industry, in general, and, in particular, in our company, in which the industry is seen as a place only for men”.
Samuel Samo Gudo explains that the company has been working with girls since secondary school and with families as they understand that “they play an important role” in inclusion.
Since the beginning of the project’s implementation in 2018, 390 students have benefited from scholarships, more than 140 of these at UEM.
The university talks about visible results. “In recent years we have seen an increasing number of girls accessing higher education at UEM. Our statistics show this, both in terms of access, graduation and even awards for the best students,” UEM rector Manuel Guilherme Júnior says.
The rector of UEM understands that initiatives like Mozal’s reinforce gender parity and also respond to one of the sustainable development objectives.
Laisa da Cruz, one of the beneficiaries of the scholarship, says she is happy and has a very clear objective: “I am happy and very excited to have received the scholarship, because the material will help me a lot. Now, I will just study.”
“I feel delighted,” said Valdemir Jopela, another beneficiary. “Through this scholarship, I will be able to pursue my studies. It was difficult for me to obtain the materials, but now I will have my life sorted out at least.”
The Mozal scholarships include the payment of tuition fees until the end of the course, plus a monthly allowance for transport and towards a laptop.
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