HIGHER EDUCATION: nurturing tomorrow's citizens​​
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Through our direct engagement in the sector, we have experienced the importance of providing access, equity and success to the most vulnerable students. Recognising the value of the 'inside-out' approach within both formal and innovative University level institutions, The Saville Foundation has contributed strategic, catalytic and financial support for initiatives across the education spectrum. ​​​
In the work we support there has been a focus on transformation that has impacted mainstream practices and thinking - which has fundamentally increased vulnerable students' participation and success in higher education, and post university.
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Consciousness-Based
Education
Higher Education Development Programme
The fellowship that fuels a nation
Strengthening the frontlines of education
![WAHEN Logo[1].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cf105d_d23b7932de17424d845f4f450f1a05c3~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_0,y_114,w_400,h_172/fill/w_308,h_133,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/WAHEN%20Logo%5B1%5D.png)
World Access to Higher Education Network
Regenerating education with local integrity
Consciousness-Based
Education
Who learns
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Young university scholars
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The Institute
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Parents
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Communities
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Policymakers
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Organisations
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Societies
Young University Scholars
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The principles of consciousness-based education: learning with awareness, not just about content.
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How to develop a grounded sense of self—cultivating inner stability alongside intellectual achievement.
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Marketable skills in high-demand sectors like cybersecurity, digital innovation, financial services, and green industries.
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Entrepreneurial thinking and leadership that integrates personal purpose with professional impact.
The Institute
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How to support student development through integrated physical, mental, and spiritual well-being on campus.
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What it means to model the future of education by becoming a self-sustaining institution—generating income through its own real-world academies.
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How education can simultaneously be a source of transformation and sustainability.
Parents & Communities
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How holistic education allows young people to better manage stress, regulate emotions, and build psychological resilience.
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That trauma-informed, consciousness-rooted learning creates ripples of safety, calm, and empowerment across families and communities.
Partnering Organisations
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How graduates equipped with inner coherence and technical expertise become changemakers in the workplace.
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That values-based leadership and mindfulness aren’t soft skills—they’re differentiators in systems that need repair.
Societies
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That cultivating self-awareness at scale reduces reactivity, amplifies productivity, and catalyses collective transformation.
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That true education doesn't just teach people what to do—it empowers them to be fully human, fully alive, and fully ready to lead.
Exponential effect
The Maharishi Institute reimagines education as a generator of inner coherence, not just academic success. At its core lies the Maharishi Effect—the understanding that when individuals elevate their consciousness, the collective field shifts.
By integrating consciousness-based learning with high-demand professional training, the Institute doesn’t just prepare students for jobs—it prepares them to become calm, clear, catalytic agents in a chaotic world. The result is a 95% job placement rate, yes—but more profoundly, an exponential ripple of psychological well-being, emotional resilience, and social harmony.
As graduates move into industries like finance, cybersecurity, and green innovation, they carry a field effect: transforming not only what they touch but how others behave within that field. Institutions, families, and economies don’t just benefit from what these young professionals do, but from who they are becoming.
When education elevates both mind and being, the result isn’t just employment—it’s entrainment. The Maharishi Effect becomes the silent multiplier, aligning systems not by force, but by frequency.
Our role
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·Provided seed and working capital after the establishment of MII, along with Anglo American providing the initial campus building.
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Play an ongoing strategic sounding board role, as well as that of emissary promoting the depth, effectiveness and ethos of MII, along with the importance of consciousness-based Education as a solution to the lack of depth and appropriate emotional elements of education.
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Connecting partner foundations to support MII, as well as provide capital for the MII ECD initiative to be housed.
Higher Education Development Programme
Who learns
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Students
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Practitioners & university leaders
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Higher Education Instittutions
What they learn
Students
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That their voice, identity, and lived experiences matter.
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How to cultivate a strong sense of agency, reflection, and purpose.
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To engage in holistic learning—emotionally, socially, intellectually, and culturally.
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That learning communities and mentorship networks are crucial to thriving.
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How to carry more than just a degree into the world: a toolbox of self-awareness, adaptability, and social consciousness.
Practitioners & University Leaders
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How to design and lead student development programs grounded in compassion, care, and critical reflection.
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That transformation requires integrating student cultural capital—not assimilation into outdated norms.
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How to drive institutional change from inside the system by being agile, responsive, and deeply informed by student reality.
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That nurturing a “community of practitioners” creates ripple effects across institutions and policies.
Higher Education Institutions
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How to move beyond compliance-driven support models to truly relational ecosystems of care.
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That thriving, not just surviving, must be the benchmark of success.
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To prioritise agility, ethical leadership, and coherence between policy, pedagogy, and purpose.
Exponential effect
When students learn to value their own voices and identities, and when practitioners embed this truth into the heart of institutional life, the university becomes a living, breathing ecosystem for change.
Graduates no longer leave with just a degree—they emerge with an ethic of care, critical consciousness, and the ability to lead with purpose in an increasingly complex world. As this generation of socially attuned alumni ripple out across sectors, they quietly shift entrenched systems from within, proving that inclusive, student-centered higher education isn’t just morally right—it’s structurally transformative.
Practitioners become changemakers themselves, creating cultures of compassion and courage within institutions, while building cross-campus communities of learning that model the very coherence they teach. When institutions move from compliance to care, survival gives way to thriving, and higher education reclaims its rightful place—not as a conveyor belt of credentials, but as a force for collective liberation.
Our role
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​​A unit inside TSF, emerging out of the meaningful journey of Prof June Pym in the Commerce Faculty of UCT and the development of a much-needed EDU (Education Development Unit) in 2002 to nurture, support and scaffold students from challenged financial or social backgrounds on their journey.
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Taking the EDU concept:
i. National to most of the SA Universities in 2017 through the ISFAP/NSFAS
ii. International through the connection and supporting of the global WAHEN network, where the depth and value of the EDU model can make an impact internationally
![WAHEN Logo[1].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/cf105d_d23b7932de17424d845f4f450f1a05c3~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_0,y_114,w_400,h_172/fill/w_242,h_104,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/WAHEN%20Logo%5B1%5D.png)
World Access to Higher Education Network
Who learns
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Students
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Academic Institutions
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Funders/donors
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Policymakers
Exponential effect
When global institutions collaborate to reshape who gets into higher education—and who thrives once there—the ripple effect is generational. WAHEN is more than a network; it’s an engine for equity. By uniting policymakers, researchers, and practitioners across continents, WAHEN dismantles inherited barriers and builds collective intelligence.
Each research project, policy shift, and shared practice contributes to a systemic recalibration—one that doesn't just open doors but redesigns the building. In a world that urgently needs wiser leadership, more inclusive systems, and a broader base of opportunity, WAHEN proves that when inclusion becomes the norm, diversity becomes the multiplier—and the wisdom it generates is exponential.
What they learn
Students
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That there are systems supportive of their needs
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How to develop the skills and entrepreneurial mindsets they need to flourish in a constantly changing world​​
Academic Institutions
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How to be inclusive and remove barriers to access
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How to listen to communities and shift from one-size-fits all curricula to creating relevant local knowledge systems​
Funders/donors
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The critical importance of actively engaging and advocating for new approaches in their own spheres of influence.​
Policymakers
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How to support the creation of self sustaining academic institutions, independent from election cycles.
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Our role
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Enabling global connection and widespread sharing of the EDU concept, now required in Western nations globally
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Catalytic funding for 2023 and 2024 critical conferences in Oxford, home to WAHEN to galvanise existing strategic relationships with high profile role-players in HE such as the Kresge and Lumina Foundations; as well as the World Bank. ​​
Strengthening the Frontlines of Education
Who learns
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Newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in their first year of teaching
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Teacher mentors and project alumni
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Teacher educators at UCT, CPUT, and other institutions
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Education policymakers and school leadership
Exponential effect
Entering the classroom alone is hard. Starting with support changes everything. The NQT Project turns first-year overwhelm into confidence. Teachers describe it as a "lifeline," offering predictable strategies before problems surface—and emotional support through every setback.
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What begins as individual resilience becomes shared strength. Newly qualified teachers begin taking on leadership roles, mentoring others, and staying in the profession longer. Schools gain stability, and systems begin to shift from reactive turnover to sustained mentorship and presence. Collectively, the impact isn’t just retention—it’s the reframing of teaching as a supported, lifelong identity in Cape Town and across South Africa.
What they learn
Newly Qualified Teachers
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Practical classroom tools: behaviour management, assessment, lesson planning, and time management within official guidelines
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Structured reflection through SACE‑accredited short course and workshop participation
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Emotional resilience and professional identity through peer support and group mentorship
Mentors & Alumni
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How to guide new teachers with empathy, listening, and shared learning rather than hierarchy
Teacher Educators
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Real‑world feedback loops on PGCE graduate experiences, teaching practice, and system gaps
Policy & School Leadership
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Insights into teacher retention challenges and early-career collapse points in system support
Our role
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Providing startup and long-term patient capital
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Partnering with HCI Foundation since inception
The Fellowship that Fuels a Nation
Who learns
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Fellow Teachers:
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Primary school children
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Education Policymakers
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Community Stakeholders
Exponential effect
Fellows step into classrooms as changemakers, embedding leadership and resilience where it's needed most. Learners flourish—scores improve, classroom culture shifts, and voices emerge where silence once existed. Supported professionally and emotionally, these teachers stay in the sector longer, moving into mentorship and leadership roles that further extend their influence into schools and communities.
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When teachers lead with purpose, communities reframe education from an obligation to a shared journey, and systems begin to respond—not just instruct. The ripple effect? Classrooms become hubs of transformation; learners become leaders; communities become co-creators in the future. That's exponential impact from educational leadership born at the frontline.
What they learn
Learners
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Develop creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and social entrepreneurship mindsets from the classroom experience
Fellow Teachers (Fellows)
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High-impact teaching strategies and conscious leadership frameworks
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Practical classroom leadership tools for under-resourced settings, combining pedagogy with purpose-driven leadership
Teacher Educators & School Leaders
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Real-time feedback on PGCE preparedness and common breakdowns in transition from student to teacher
Policymakers & Partners
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Evidence of how investing in teacher leadership transforms early-grade teaching quality and community-level outcomes
Our role
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Initially providing funds to enable TGM to create a successful teacher assessment tool to be shared internationally, already in another African country.
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Ad hoc strategic support with a view to providing catalytic funds as required to enable TTN to deliver to their mandate.
Regenerating Education with Local Integrity
Who learns
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Young people from underserved communities in Sub‑Saharan Africa
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Educators and local institute staff
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Communities benefiting from regional educational hubs
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Funders, policy-makers, and global partners
Exponential effect
What begins as one institute offering consciousness-centered education grows into a replicable blueprint for continental transformation. Young people leave equipped not just with grades, but with inner resilience, innovation skills, and the courage to contribute economically and socially. The education hubs inspire civic uplift, with graduates returning as changemakers.
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Over three decades, ACF has seeded affordable campuses—urban and township-based—that operate sustainably, empowering communities while reducing dependency on external aid. The ripple effect? A network of self-reliant, values-driven institutes sparking educational dignity and economic mobility across generations.
What they learn
Learners
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Experience Consciousness-Based Education (CBE) that blends academic learning with well‑being practices like meditation and inner development
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Gain leadership, entrepreneurial thinking, and innovation skills alongside core academics
Educators & Local Initiatives
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How to co-lead culturally attuned, high-impact low‑cost education models rooted in both community identity and academic rigour
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Approaches to build financial independence via blended revenue-generation and endowment structures
Communities & Hubs
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How to host and participate in emerging Education Districts—urban and rural—that regenerate neighbourhoods through inclusive learning infrastructure
Funders & Policymakers
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How an education model that values self‑funding, innovation, and character development can reduce vulnerability to social instability and scale sustainably across borders
Our role
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Promote and support ACF strategically.
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Provision of grant capital for Africa wide research on models and strategies for Improving Higher Education Curricula in Africa.