MERU
MERU: Where education returns to nature
In 2008, the Oppenheimer family donated a 3,900 hectare Nature Reserve, Ezemvelo, to the Maharishi Institute, to provide a stunning location for a new green, consciousness-based, rural education study centre for students from Southern Africa. This new facility, MERU, is aimed at providing access to studies for students in conservation and green industries, the hallmarks of 21st century society.
Students come away with a broader appreciation of topics affecting our daily lives and the future of our mother earth,while graduates learn how to create prosperity out of emerging 21st century green industries, through the protection of nature. The goal is to offer precious knowledge to assist our rural communities to break the cycle of poverty by maintaining the natural treasures they are the caretakers of. By harnessing and utilizing the best South Africa has to offer, we are creating a rural setting that will be scalable, replicable, and can be used as a model for governments throughout Africa and the world.
Over 4000 youth have already experienced leadership camps and training at Ezemvelo Nature Reserve. Based on the great success of these programs, we are now taking the concept to the next level: the offering of access to longer programmes starting August 2011. This full-time MERU program, where students study distance education programs of the Maharishi University of Management, USA, via distance education, and get local South African field experience is a first of its kind for Africa.
Student applications for the MERU programme were over-subscribed, and the select number that were chosen to be in the first intake have already enrolled and are taking foundational courses through local South African accredited wildlife programmes, after which they will begin part-time courses via distance education towards a degree in Environmental Management through MUM. Students get the superb opportunity to build their foundational ecology and conservation-related skills through Wildlife Campus. Students have also benefited from experiential leadership camps with Endangered Wildlife Trust's Conservation Leadership Group.
WildlifeCampus is a well-established and reputable distance-learning provider with 10,000 online students world-wide and has been offering Wildlife, natural Science, Guiding and Ecology-related courses for over 10 years.
Courses on offer through WildlifeCampus include:
- Palaeontology & Evolution
- Game Lodge Management
- Wildlife Management
- Human – Wildlife Conflicts
- African Folklore
- and many more!
MERU will soon be expanding to incorporate eco-architecture and green technologies to make it self-sustaining and completely off-the-grid. A thousands of years old system of building for happiness and wellbeing in harmony with natural law, known as Sthapatya Ved, is to be used.
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