Peermont Education Trust and PCBT Scholarships

Written by Keagan HendricksStaff Writer (Unisa Alumnus)

Reviewed & verified by Naledi KhumaloSenior Admissions and Bursaries EditorVerified

Emperors Palace, the flagship resort of Peermont Hotels, Casinos and Resorts, funds two bursary trusts for young people from the City of Ekurhuleni. The Peermont Education Trust (PET) pays for full-time undergraduate study at a university or other accredited institution in Gauteng. The Peermont Community Benefit Trust (PCBT) pays for a Bachelor of Hospitality Management at the Swiss Hotel School in Randburg. Both trusts use one advert, one set of documents and one interview day, and Peermont values each all-expenses-paid scholarship at over R170,000 per student.

What the R170,000 covers

According to the trusts’ most recent call, a bursary pays for accommodation, tuition and registration fees, and prescribed books or study material. Peermont’s reports on the 2024 and 2025 intakes add a laptop and a stipend, and new students receive their letters, education packs and, in 2025, clothing vouchers at an induction day at Emperors Palace. The bursary runs for a study programme of at least one year and is renewed each year if the student’s results are good enough; in February 2026 the trusts were carrying 27 continuing students alongside the new intake.

Money is only part of it. Trust manager Thomas Masango acts as a mentor, and the trusts run regular mentorship meetings and workshops on study skills, emotional intelligence and employability. Peermont says more than 150 PET bursars have graduated over its 25-year history, in fields from chartered accounting to mechanical engineering.

Ekurhuleni residents only, and no medicine

• You must live permanently in the Ekurhuleni metropolitan area; the application form asks for a utilities account as proof.
• Selection is based strictly on academic excellence and financial need, and combined household income is a critical factor.
• You must arrange your own admission to an accredited tertiary institution in Gauteng.
• Study must be full-time and undergraduate. PET no longer sponsors medicine.

Matric learners can apply before their final results are out, and so can students already at university. The January 2025 PET intake included three students who were in their second or fourth year of BCom studies at the University of Johannesburg. A 2024 bursar studying podiatry at UJ got the award after paying for his first year himself and earning eight distinctions in his second.

Where recent PET and PCBT bursars study

PET bursars choose their own degree. The 2024 and 2025 groups went to Wits, UJ and the University of Pretoria for engineering (mechanical, civil, chemical, aeronautical, biomedical and mining), computer science, accounting, law, education, geology, meteorology and the arts. PCBT bursars all take the Bachelor of Hospitality Management at the Swiss Hotel School. Five PCBT students from the 2024 group were placed on internships abroad in 2025 and 2026, in Switzerland, at hotels and restaurants in Boston, New Orleans and Baltimore, and on a cruise liner.

More than 1,000 applicants for 18 places

Only shortlisted applicants are called for interviews, which are held at Emperors Palace before a panel of trustees and two PET alumni. The trustees’ decision is final, and the trusts do not enter into correspondence about it.

The last call ran from August to 30 November

Applications for 2026 studies opened on 11 August 2025 and closed on 30 November 2025. Applicants filled in either the PET form or the PCBT hospitality form and emailed it with these copies:

1. a certified South African ID;
2. a full academic record with the latest results, or official matric results if already completed;
3. for learners still in Grade 12, the Grade 11 results and June report, with final results sent once released;
4. proof of residence in Ekurhuleni;
5. proof of income for both parents where applicable: payslips, an affidavit stating that a parent is unemployed or self-employed (with annual income), or death certificates.

Applications went to Thomas Masango at tmmasango@peermont.com, who also takes enquiries on 011 928 1953. The call for 2027 studies had not been published on Peermont’s site by 27 September 2026, so check the trusts’ application page and the Peermont CSI news page for the new forms before sending anything.

Ekurhuleni students can also look at the City of Ekurhuleni bursary. For hospitality study, see our list of tourism bursaries, and for first degrees in any field, the undergraduate bursaries list.

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