CIDA City Campus?

What is CIDA City Campus? Leveraging Africa's own Human Capital and Genius to Change the Continent -- brainchild of former actuary Dr. Taddy Blecher, CIDA offers minimal-cost education to students from disadvantaged backgrounds and, in 2003, was the recipient of a $1 million donation from Oprah Winfrey.

Welcome to CIDA City Campus, incorporating CIDA Business School and CIDA’s 12 Schools of Excellence. CIDA is designed to develop thinkers and leaders, and as a result to help rejuvenate the economy of South Africa through leveraging the finest knowledge and skills that exists in the nation and in the world. CIDA is a: high quality low cost holistic relevant cutting-edge technology enriched replicable mass-scale, contact higher education model The CIDA model could be introduced in other developing countries and has potential global relevance. CIDA is a registered and accredited, non-profit, private, higher education institution founded in 1999 in South Africa. A 4-year cutting-edge business and technology degree is offered. This Bachelor of Business Administration degree is accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the Council for Higher Education (CHE), and provisionally registered by the South African National Department of Education. The campus is based in Johannesburg in the former Investec Bank head office. Investec has been a major corporate benefactor by providing their R86 million building for the campus. Over 1 600 students have been offered tuition scholarships. CIDA develops these future leaders to spread their knowledge to their home communities, teaching vast numbers of school students, community members and unemployed people about finance, banking, and the use of computers. In this way CIDA is focused on creating a meaningful financial and economic democracy in South Africa, and in time, to replicate its model for the developing nations of the world. Article: From accountancy through to human development course, the four year degree offered to students who are lucky enough to secure at place at the university (19000 applicants for 1800 places), is indeed unique. CIDA’s approach is one of developing the ‘whole person’ – a total education solution, learning not only academic skills, but life skills, to help them become well rounded, confident and integrated citizens in society. Students attend 7-9 hours of lectures per day, taking 3 times the number of courses of traditional business courses. Lessons at the university are taught by top industry players such as accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Days at the university are divided into six key components, starting with meditation at 8am in the morning: 1. Knowledge – this is the academic part of the day, teaching business subjects such as accounting, strategy, statistics as well as remedial education and ‘knowledge of the world.’ 2. Skills – technology training, as well as softer life skills 3. Values – students learn about professional ethics, African leadership values, and principle centred leadership. 4. Action – this part of the day is devoted to managing the campus, as well as corporate internships and community activities. 5. Self-management – Using self development tools such as meditation and counselling helps students reach their full potential 6. ‘Love of Life’ – extra-curricular activities, from sports to music to societies. 7. The Extranet – Community outreach projects, in which students teach their communities about entrepreneurship, financial management, career guidance and health issues. The founder of the university believes this has allowed over 1million to be positively affected by CIDA.