Sosh Open Day Was Fun But More Marketing Needed

Pearl Nicodemus

Recently TUT Soshanguve held its open day and as always all department go all out to attract aspirant youngsters to enroll next year.

TUT, like most universities, no longer just gives information in the form of pamphlets and booklets to wannabe students. Most tertiary institutions go all out - from the advertising, marketing and even getting media personalities to come on board. All this is done in the name of getting the best of the best.

But there is a down-side to open days – some high school pupils who come are not even interested in being part of the university. They would be there for the occasional braai, music and dance sessions and to just have a good time away from home. There wasn’t a lack of that in Sosh either. Different teams – academic and social made sure that potential students would come to them for their dose of entertainment and information of course. There were even township street games being played just outside the Gencor Hall where the various departments had set up their stalls.

I also had fun with other students and lecturers at the journalism stall. The staff looked great in their white pin-striped shirts custom made especially for them by Boutique TUT. The questions we got from some of the learners were just classic, but at some point annoying. “So, will I get a job if I study journalism?” some would ask.

“Why do you want to do Journalism?” we would often ask and some responses were hilarious. The answers ranged from “Uhm ja is because of that I want to get the money you see” or “err, will TUT get the job for me in my third year.” One word of advice to everyone – research, research and more research. Oh don’t study for the sake of making money – do something you are passionate about and money will come to you that way.

With all that said, Sosh open day left much to be desired. We could blame it on the fact that most learners enroll after they’ve written their preliminary exams, bad marketing or the fact that other big tertiary institutions had theirs on the exact same day. Whatever the case may be, let’s just hope that the next one is bigger and better!