The Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Michael Masutha, will hand over a BMW Educational Car to the UniZul Science Centre in Richards Bay, in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday, 4 September.

This is the third BMW 3 series display car the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and BMW South Africa will be making to selected science centres in the country, to be used for educational purposes.

The first two educational display cars have been donated to the Cape Town Science Centre and to Vuwani Science Centre during National Science Week in Limpopo.

The donation emphasises the DST’s and BMW South Africa’s commitment to enhance young people’s access to science, maths, engineering and technology in the country. Science centres generally offer hands-on informal learning of science and technology through interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to experiment and explore science.

The BMW 3 Series Educational Display cars were built in the pre-production stage of the new BMW 3 Series at Plant Rosslyn, Pretoria in early 2012. As pre-production vehicles, they are not allowed to be registered and would have been scrapped.

The UniZul Science Centre is one of the oldest and biggest science centres in the country. Established in 1982 at University of Zululand’s Physics department, it was initially housed in an old laboratory on the top floor of the Zoology Building.

Through funding from both the DST and local industries, the facility now boasts 2 600 square metres, with a dedicated exhibit area of 1 600 square metres, a state of the art auditorium, a smaller theatre, a lab and two classrooms.