The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) is a government component that reports to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. MISA helps municipalities plan, build and maintain water, roads, electricity and other infrastructure, and it runs a Technical Bursary Scheme to train the engineers and planners those municipalities need. MISA has not advertised a round for the 2027 academic year yet. Its most recent round, for 2026 study, closed on 7 March 2026.
Seventy places across five disciplines
The 2026 advert offered undergraduate bursaries split by field and by type of institution:
- Electrical engineering: 25 (10 at universities, 10 at universities of technology, 5 at TVET colleges)
- Civil engineering: 20 (10 universities, 10 universities of technology)
- Urban and regional planning, or town and regional planning: 15 (10 universities, 5 universities of technology)
- Project and construction management: 5 (3 universities, 2 universities of technology)
- Environmental management: 5 (universities only)
Electrical engineering is the only field where MISA funded TVET college students in that round. The numbers can change from one advert to the next.
Who MISA puts first
MISA does not limit the scheme to students from previously disadvantaged communities, but it gives preference to applicants from rural areas and from households with a combined annual income below R600 000. MISA also invites applications from people with disabilities and youth from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.
The paperwork MISA asked for last time
- certified copy of your South African ID;
- certified copy of your matric (Grade 12) certificate;
- certified academic records, and last year’s tertiary results if you are a continuing student;
- proof of registration on the institution’s letterhead, plus proof of residence and an enrolment form if you are already studying;
- proof that household income is under R600 000: parents’ payslips, or an affidavit from parents or guardians, or an affidavit of unemployment;
- your fee statement from the institution.
One PDF, one email, no late entries
In the 2026 round, MISA took applications only by email. Applicants filled in the MISA form, scanned it with all supporting documents into a single PDF (MISA asked people not to split it) and quoted their discipline in the email. MISA refused faxed, hand-delivered, posted and late applications, and said it would contact only successful candidates. The email address in that advert was specific to the 2026 round, so use whichever address the next advert gives.
MISA posts its adverts and forms on the MISA bursaries page. Its timing has moved around: the advert for 2025 study went up in mid-2025, while the one for 2026 study appeared in February 2026 and closed a few weeks later. Check the page every month or so, because a short window is easy to miss.
Other funders for municipal infrastructure studies
Water and sanitation students can also compare the DWS Learning Academy bursary with the uMngeni-uThukela Water bursary. Construction and built-environment students should compare the CETA bursary.