Martin & East is a long-established South African civil engineering and construction contractor. The company’s scholar programme works differently from an ordinary bursary: a learner finishes matric, spends a salaried year working on Martin & East construction sites, and only then moves on to a bursary for a civil engineering qualification.
Why we cannot confirm the next intake
Martin & East does not publish its programme on a website we can reach. On 2 October 2026 Martin & East had no working site, careers page or downloadable advert, so we could not confirm whether a gap year for 2027 is open, which marks it asks for, which universities it funds, or when applications close. Other websites carry dates for this programme, but we do not repeat dates that we cannot trace back to Martin & East itself.
What a paid site year asks of a matriculant
A gap-year route suits a learner who is sure about civil engineering and happy to delay university by a year. Expect early starts, outdoor work and placement wherever the company has projects, such as road building, pipelines or earthworks. In return, the learner earns a salary, sees how a contractor runs a site before choosing a qualification, and goes into first year with a funder already behind them. A learner who wants to start university straight after matric should apply for direct bursaries as well.
How to check before you apply
- Ask your school’s Life Orientation teacher or career counsellor whether Martin & East has sent the school an advert.
- Get the advert itself, and use only the contact details printed on it.
- Do not pay anyone who offers to apply for you or asks for an application fee.
While you wait, look at other routes into civil engineering. The SANRAL bursary funds roads engineering, the CETA bursary covers built-environment studies, and our engineering bursaries list has more. We will update this page once Martin & East’s own advert can be confirmed.