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10 December 2018 | Story Leonie Bolleurs
Quantity Surveying
Winning national awards at the South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession’s 10th international research conference were, from the left: Prof Kahilu Kajimo-Shakantu with honours graduate student Melissa Moss, centre, and Mariska Karsten, a current honours student in Quantity Surveying and Construction Management.
Melissa Moss, a student from the Department of Quantity Surveying and Construction Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), has won the prestigious Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS) Gold Medal Award 2018 for excellent performance at honours levels.

According to Prof Kailua Kajimo-Shakantu, the head of the department, this is an annual award which all institutions in South Africa that offer accredited Quantity Surveying programmes compete for. The adjudication process is undertaken by an independent panel consisting of several prominent academics as well as practitioners. The criteria for the award include; outstanding academic achievement and the individual’s involvement in extramural activities, contribution to community, social responsibility, personality and leadership qualities.

Aim for critical-thinking graduates

The achievement is in line with the department’s aim of developing, by means of dynamic scientific education, independent, critical-thinking, and well-rounded graduates who will become leaders in their field. 

Melissa, an honours student, received the premier award from ASAQS for excellent achievement over her four years of study.

The department is also very proud of Mariska Karsten. She was a runner-up for the ASAQS Future Leaders Award 2018 for excellent achievement over her three years of study. While the ASAQS Gold Medal Award has been in existence for decades, the ASAQS Future Leaders Award is a new category introduced in 2017 when the “inaugural” award was won by another of the UFS Department’s students, Gerné Bothma.

“Individuals such as these students of ours should be recognised, encouraged and nurtured so that they can reach their full potential and become the future leaders that not only the profession needs but also academia and the country as a whole. They are smart young people who show promise to contribute positively towards the profession. I have no doubt that they will serve the profession well with commitment, passion, integrity and creativity. I am proud of their achievements and the possibilities ahead of them,” said Prof Kailua Kajimo-Shakantu.

Both Melissa and Mariska received their national awards, presented this year at the 10th South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession (SACQSP) International Research Conference gala event held in Johannesburg. The conference was themed: The Quantity Surveying Profession and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.  

First female president of ASOCSA

Earlier this semester, Liane van Wyk, an honours student in Construction Management, presented and won the Best Student Research Proposal Competition Initiative at the 12th Built Environment Conference held in Durban. Liane, together with Prof Kajimo-Shakantu, and master’s student, Isabella Chandi, presented papers at the conference. 

A highlight for Kovsies at the conference was Prof Kajimo-Shakantu being elected and inaugurated as the sixth and first female President of the Association of Schools of Construction of Southern Africa (ASOCSA).

News Archive

UFS hosts a successful New Music Indaba
2015-08-18

  

Held at the University of the Free State’s Odeion School of Music (OSM), the NewMusicSA’s New Music Indaba 2015 featured works which Clare Loveday described as “breathtaking, discreet, and perfectly balanced.”

Loveday, one of South Africa’s acclaimed music critics and was Composer-in-Residence for the annual Johannesburg International Mozart Festival, attended the Indaba from 21-26 July 2015. In a review of Saturday’s gala concert, she referred to recitals of this nature as an “essential part of the South African musical landscape, providing musicians and composers a space in which to express their world.”

Staff and students of the OSM were extensively involved in facilitating the festivities as a symbol of commitment to South Africa and international contemporary art music. The OSM Camerata under the baton of Xavier Cloete performed two works by South African composer Hendrik Hofmeyr well as a work by young Argentinian composer Diego Soifer entitled Mille Regretz .The festival featured music theory lectures, a variety of workshops, roundtable discussions ,concerts as well as an outreach programme.

Loveday described the highlight of her Indaba experience as “A delicate construction of sounds and silences that drew the listener into a focused and intense sound world,” a highlight created by the visiting German composer, Charlotte Seither’s “Far From Distance” for piano, clarinet, and cello. The concert evening culminated with Diale Mabitsela's "Friday Nights at Six," adding to the spectacular nature of the festival.

Throughout the week, classical chamber works featuring South African New Music Ensemble (SANME), the Choir of Christ Church Arcadia, and the Odeion Vocal Consort were performed and well-received. Bringing the five-day event to a conclusion was a choral mass at the Bloemfontein Anglican Cathedral, featuring an “Agnus Dei” written by George T. King.
 
Douglas Scott, Curator of the 2015 Indaba, reflected on it as a great success, saying that, “most of the participants agreed the event was a wonderful opportunity simply to hear different voices from the composition community juxtaposed with one another.”

From Scott’s perspective, the principal goal was to foster communication between artists with different visions, and to reach out to the local community.

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