When hard work pays off

David Ntaote smiles proudly

Puleng Maphisa

According to an article in University World News (2015), Doctoral graduates increased from 834 to 1 879 between the period of 2000-2012 in South Africa.

Vaal University of Technology’s (VUT), David Ntaote can proudly add to the numbers – which hopefully have grown in the past five years.  At the age of 33, David graduated with a Doctorate Technologiae (DTech) degree in Chemistry from the Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences on Monday, 11 September.

With his eyes beaming with excitement and pride, he said he couldn’t believe that he was at last reaping the fruits he’d sown over the past few years. David, who holds a National Diploma, a Baccalaureus Technologiae (BTech) and a Magister Technologiae (MTech) in Chemistry from VUT, says he enrolled for his DTech in July 2013.

With over 16 research articles under his belt, he attributes his achievement to hard work, resilience and discipline. He also states that VUT has helped shape him.

“My journey was not an easy one, I had to go through many challenges, but it was a joyful journey. I travelled the world and I have learned a lot because of VUT. You don’t need to be intelligent to get a degree, you just need to put in the hard work and be disciplined,” he said.