The Institute of IT Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) is the SAQA-recognised professional body for the ICT industry. IITPSA offers a bursary to bring strong students into a sector that is short of skills, and it funds study from the first year of a computing degree.
Degrees IITPSA will fund
IITPSA grants the bursary for full-time study towards a three-year degree in one of these fields:
- BSc in Computer Science, Information Systems or Applied Computing.
- BCom in Information Systems or Informatics.
Diplomas and engineering degrees are not on IITPSA’s list.
Tuition, residence and textbooks covered
The IITPSA bursary pays full tuition, registration and exam fees, accommodation in university-administered residence, and textbooks. IITPSA awards it one academic year at a time. To keep it for the second and third years, you need satisfactory results in the year before, and IITPSA will not pay for modules you repeat.
An edge for girls in the Computer Programming Olympiad
IITPSA runs the Computer Programming Olympiad, which has been going since 1984. Few girls enter it, so IITPSA uses the bursary as an incentive: it gives preference to the girl who places highest in the Olympiad’s Top 3 rounds and plans to study ICT at a recognised South African university. If no girls apply, IITPSA still favours a candidate who placed high in the competition. For a Grade 11 or Grade 12 learner thinking about computing, entering the Olympiad is the clearest way to stand out for this bursary.
2026 intake closed, 2027 not yet announced
The IITPSA bursary page says applications for the 2026 bursary have closed. On 2 October 2026 IITPSA had not published dates or an application form for 2027. Email IITPSA at bursary@iitpsa.org.za to ask when the next round opens, and check the bursary page again before the end of matric.
IITPSA also has a Women in IT chapter that runs a bursary and mentorship programme, but its page carried no current bursary details when we checked.
Computing bursaries with open or recent rounds
Because IITPSA’s timing is uncertain, apply to other computing funders as well. The BBD bursary comes from a software development company, the HP Inc bursary rewards merit in computer science, and our IT bursaries list shows which are open for 2027.