8 Students’ community engagement project As part of a group assignment, second-year Personal Selling and Consumer Behaviour students were tasked to ‘sell a cause’ using the knowledge they had gained from their module. The focus of the project was on Goal 2 of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is ‘zero hunger’. The students were asked to collect instant noodles as part of a noodle collection drive, and had to make posters and videos to create awareness and promote the noodle drive. They collected noodles from fellow students, the community around UJ, and their respective communities. Community engagement is a fundamental UJ value that encourages ubuntu – participating in helping the community. Through this project the students achieved their module outcomes – and collected over 10 000 packs of instant noodles to be donated to a number of deserving charities. In the end, the students enjoyed the project, and felt that they had made a positive contribution to fighting hunger. Thank you to Marketing lecturers Ms Relebohiseng Matubatuba and Dr Mthobisi Nhlabathi for coordinating this impactful initiative. Department of Government Communication and Information Systems internship won by third-year marketing student 31 March 2023 marked the end of a one-month internship awarded to the winning third-year marketing students who had developed an effective communication strategy to inform South Africans about all of the government services offered by the Department of Government Communication and Information Systems (GCIS). This partnership between GCIS and the Department of Marketing Management aims to contribute to the education and empowerment of young individuals who are pursuing careers in marketing and communication. As part of the internship, GCIS placed the winning student in sections that were aligned with their Marketing Management qualification, and conducted a brief orientation programme to highlight their expectations about the placement and the expected quality of service, and to ensure that student received the necessary support for successful experiential learning. Shanice Jones, the third-year student who took part in the internship, shared the knowledge she had gained during her internship, and noted that she had learnt about governmental entities, about the Mac charter, and about efforts to create a code for the marketing sector. She had also contributed significantly to the GCIS’s Vukazenzele newsletter, actively engaged in public outreach to raise awareness about the GCIS’s product offerings, and played a crucial role in preparing for the 30th anniversary celebration of the Freedom Charter. Work-integrated learning experiences are key, as they expose students to the world of work, and help them to put their learned theory into practice. The Marketing Department is proud about this industry partnership through which marketing students are mentored and empowered by industry experts.
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