Northern Cape Provincial Government (Office of the Premier)

The Northern Cape Provincial Government administers South Africa’s largest province by area, which is also its least populated. The provincial capital is Kimberley, and the province stretches from the Orange River and the Kalahari to Namaqualand on the west coast.

Registered name

Northern Cape Provincial Government (Office of the Premier)

Type

Provincial government

Fields funded

Undergraduate scarce skills, with priority for STEM

Website

northern-cape.gov.za

A province that struggles to attract skills

The Northern Cape’s size and remoteness have long made it difficult to attract and keep skilled professionals. Engineers, doctors, accountants and planners trained elsewhere often prefer to work in larger cities. The Northern Cape Provincial Government’s response is to train its own residents, who are more likely to return home and stay, according to a provider record checked in August 2026. The opening of Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley in 2014 gave the province its first university for the same reason.

The Premier’s bursary

The Office of the Premier runs the provincial bursary programme, administered by the Northern Cape Premier’s Education Trust Fund. The bursary funds first undergraduate qualifications in scarce and critical skills, with priority for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and covers registration, tuition, prescribed books and accommodation, but not existing debt.

The value depends on household income: up to R120 000 a year for households earning up to R350 000, R100 000 for households up to R550 000, and R80 000 for households up to R800 000. Applicants must be unemployed South African citizens aged 18 to 30 who live in the Northern Cape, in Matric or with Matric, with strong results and financial need. There is no formally published employment work-back contract, although recipients are generally expected to consider public service in the province.

Timing

Applications for 2027 close on 30 September 2026. The 2026 round closed on 31 October 2025 and was extended to 10 November 2025, but no extension is promised this year.

How to research the bursary

The provincial website did not allow a secure automated connection when BursariesAfrica checked, so open the bursaries page in a browser and confirm the application email address there. Applicants aged 23 to 30 need a SARS tax status confirmation, which takes time to obtain. Ask your school or the Premier’s office about information sessions in your district.

Students from towns such as Upington, Springbok, De Aar and Kuruman should check travel and accommodation costs carefully, since many will study far from home.

See our Northern Cape Government Bursaries list.