DUT students and staff at the 2025 BRICS Vocational Skills Competition in China.
A total of 13 students from the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) recently participated in the 2025 BRICS Vocational Skills China International Finals Competition at Guangdong Construction Polytechnic in Guangdong, China.
This milestone underscored the institution’s dedication to promoting international learning, cross-cultural collaboration and global engagement. It reflected DUT’s broader vision of producing adaptive graduates who meet globally recognised standards of excellence.
The students, accompanied by two staff mentors, had a 30-hour journey before arriving in China to participate in the five-day grand finale.
According to one of the DUT staff mentors, Ms Ugeshni Moodley, the competition focused on Data Analysis and Visualisation linked to key areas such as high-end manufacturing, the digital economy, new industries, new forms of business and new technologies. She shared that the competition consisted of 137 participants from seven BRICS+ countries, contributing to innovation, high-quality international technical skills development and cultural people-to-people exchanges.
The DUT team amongst other participants at the 2025 BRICS Vocational Skills Competition in China.
“The competition included an online future skills bootcamp for qualifying students. The international final competition in China required participants to complete tasks in Data Acquisition and Processing, Data Presentation and Sharing, Data Development and Application and concluded with a Project Presentation that required demonstration of data analysis and visualisation technology in an innovative and original solution linked to any of the key areas. The team went through an intense week of boot camp training on top of the month-long preparation from their mentors,” shared Moodley.
At the awards ceremony, the DUT delegation excelled, with one standout student securing the Silver Medal for South Africa. This reflected their talent, preparation and resilience and exemplified DUT as being creative, distinctive and impactful. The closing ceremony presented two categories of awards, namely medals and certificates. While China won a Gold and Silver Medal, South Africa, through DUT’s postgraduate student, Qiniso Mthethwa, achieved the highest score among all the foreign participating countries.
Apart from DUT achieving the Silver Medal, all 13 students secured certificate awards, with one first prize certificate, three second prize certificates and nine third prize certificates awarded to the DUT team.
DUT mentor, Ms Ugeshni Moodley, further revealed that she was honoured with an invitation to serve as a representative for international participants at the competition’s opening ceremony. Her exceptional leadership and dedicated mentorship were further recognised at the closing ceremony, where she was awarded the “Excellent Guidance Expert” certificate in acknowledgment of her pivotal role in guiding the DUT team to outstanding success.
After the competition, the DUT team visited various vocational colleges in China, allowing them to participate in cultural activities and explore technologies within the World Skills Training Base, the LUBAN Museum and the automotive research institute, to name a few.
Participation in engagements like these is strengthened by the continued commitment of the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics, which actively empowers students to excel on competitive platforms, both locally and internationally. By championing global exposure, experiential learning and practice-based development, the faculty ensures DUT students are not only prepared for but thrive in, the evolving global landscape of professional excellence.