BURSARIES
South African Veterinary Foundation Bursary Fund
Bursary Applications
Bursary applications for 2025 are open until midnight on 2 June 2025.
NOTE:
Bursaries are ONLY available to BVSc students from the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, who are in their 4th or 5th year of study and in need of financial assistance.
THUS, TO BE ELIGIBLE TO APPLY
• You must currently be studying at the University of Pretoria.
• You must currently be studying a for a BVSc degree (Veterinary Science).
• You must be in your 4th or 5th year of study for a BVSc degree.
The South African Veterinary Foundation has 2 bursaries available for 4th year and 2 bursaries available for 5th year valued at R12 000 each in conjunction with Lakato Veterinary Wholesalers, the SAVF’s own Pet Memorial Fund and a private donor.
Bursaries are awarded with “no strings attached”.
Requirements are academic merit (above 60% average examination marks) and an active role in student activities, which may include sport, cultural activities, or any other aspect of student life. Applicants are also required to complete a quiz on the South African Veterinary Foundation based on the information available on the website. The score for this quiz is an additional criterion for selection.
Application is online
It involves:
- Completing 10 multiple choice questions on the SAVF
- Supplying your name, student number, your current year of study (e.g. 4 or 5), telephone numbers, e-mail address, your current student debt (upload a PDF document to prove this), uploading a PDF copy of your academic record for last year and a brief CV onto the electronic web application form
For further information, please contact Dr. Quixi Sonntag at drquixi@gmail.com
pplications close at midnight on Monday 2nd June 2025.
Before you start
Please read through the form and note that some documents are required from you. It would be best to have these documents prepared and ready to upload before starting your submission.
Thank you!
Background on our Bursaries
The South African Veterinary Foundation has been supporting a 4th and 5th year veterinary student financially since 1999 when K Eason and GL van Blerk each received R5000. To date over 40 veterinary students have received bursaries to a total value of over R250 000 and the current bursary value is R12 000.
Over the years, our bursaries have been funded from our Pet Memorial Fund as well as from 2002 by a generous donation each year from veterinary wholesaler Lakato (Pty) Ltd represented by the managing director, Mr Stuart Fyffe. In 2017 The Professional Provident Society gave bursaries and in 2018 Mercantile Bank sponsored two bursaries.
Since 2022, a private donor has also contributed to the bursaries – the Seria family, who sadly lost their beloved dog Da Vinci to a rare tumour, make this generous contribution every year in memory of Da Vinci and in support of veterinary research. Read ‘The Da Vinci Story – A Story of Unconditional Love’ here
Our sincere thanks are extended to all of our past and present sponsors for their assistance in educating veterinary students.
Whilst the bursaries only cover a small amount of the annual expense of studying veterinary science they do make a difference. The bursaries are allocated to students who actively partake in campus student activities and with good academic achievements and are presented with no repayment obligation. We only hope that past recipients who are currently in practice will support the Pet Memorial Fund so we can help more students.
With increasing costs of studying veterinary science and greater numbers of financially challenged students there is a constant request for student bursaries and the Foundation has thus established a bursary fund. The Foundation can then make ad hoc bursaries available if special requests are received from vets or related organisations, as well as make more regular bursaries available for veterinary and nursing students.
The Foundation thus challenges members of the public, individual veterinarians or multiperson practices to make a once-off, or regular donation to the SAVF bursary fund, or to consider the bursary fund in their will. Additionally SAVA branches and Groups can also donate some of their accumulated funds or profits from mini-congresses to the bursary fund. Vets in industry and their companies can also consider making donations to the fund as part of their corporate social responsibilities. Any donations will be acknowledged on the website if required. These donations are tax deductible and donors will receive an 18A tax receipt.
Qualified veterinarians and veterinary nurses have been privileged to receive a good veterinary education in South Africa – let us consider those that have limited financial means to achieve their dreams to become a veterinarian or veterinary nurse.
