What the South African Reserve Bank does

The SARB serves the economic well-being of all South Africans through maintaining price stability and financial stability. It is responsible for the regulation of the South African financial sector, the design and distribution of banknotes and coin, the management of interest rates, setting the cash reserve requirement for banks, and ensuring the stability of both the banking sector and the wider financial system.

The purpose of the scholarship

The SARB, as part of addressing the severe shortage of skills in South Africa, provides scholarships and bursaries to students in relevant fields of study who are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In support of the corporate social initiatives of the SARB and its External Bursary Scheme, a number of external scholarships and bursaries are made available annually to qualifying prospective postgraduate students.

The SARB, in collaboration with the Data Science Academic Committee of the National Graduate Academy for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (NGA(MaSS)), hereby invites prospective Master’s degree students to apply for competitive SARB bursaries in the fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence, with specific reference to financial analytics.

Requirements to qualify for the scholarship

For students to be considered for the scholarship, they have to meet the following requirements:

• provisional acceptance into one of the identified Master’s programmes;
• the modules selected should include financial analytics topics;
• a relevant Honours degree with an average of at least a 65% overall pass mark;
• be a full-time student;
• be a South African citizen; and
• be younger than 35 years of age.

As part of the acceptance criteria of the scholarship, students might be expected to attend specific workshops, as required by the SARB and the NGA(MaSS).

A a list of institutions and programmes that the scholarship will cover is provided in the next column.

Acceptance into one of the following Master’s
programmes will be considered:

How to apply

The closing date for submission of applications is Thursday, 31 October 2024. Late applications will not be considered.

Examination results, proof of acceptance at a recognised institution (a student number) and any other supporting documents must be submitted with the application. Use

PROMO CODE: SARBDSM25

Online applications: Data Science Bursary

Submission of examination results by bursary holders

Bursary holders will be required to submit their examination results before Tuesday, 31 December 2024, regardless of whether they will be awarded a bursary for the following year or not.

Scholarship agreement

Potential external bursars will be required to avail themselves for interviews. Successful applicant(s) for the scholarship will be expected to sign an agreement with the SARB.