The SWW L+EARN Financial Education Programme (Excel@Uni) pilot campaign was implemented in partnership between the ASISA Foundation and Excel@Uni. Excel@Uni is a student support and bursary management company that manages corporate bursaries for university education and provides academic and mentorship support to the bursary recipients. The programme formed part of the ‘Professional and Personal Development’ support service offered by Excel@Uni, which aims to equip students with the relevant skills they need before they enter the workplace.

The programme was implemented between August and October 2017 and comprised 2 6-hour financial education workshops in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. The target audience for these workshops were the Excel@Uni bursary recipients from the University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of the Witwatersrand (‘Wits’), the University of Johannesburg (UJ), and the University of Pretoria (UP). Most of the participants who attended the workshops were current Excel@Uni bursary students, while a few of them were Excel@Uni alumni students who had recently entered the world of work.

The purpose of the SWW L+EARN Financial Education Programme (Excel@Uni) pilot was to improve participants’ knowledge of financial topics and ‘real life’ financial scenarios, so they are better prepared to manage their finances as they leave university and enter the workplace. The ultimate objective of the campaign was to contribute to a positive change in the participants’ financial behaviour.