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Water quality the focus of international Summer School

01 April 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Sonia Small

Water is a basic resource upon which communities rely for their health, well-being, and economic development and growth. Many countries struggle with the negative consequences of poor surface-water quality, which may threaten their food security and livelihoods.

The Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State recently co-presented the German-Southern African Summer School 2019 with the Dresden University, Germany, on its Bloemfontein Campus.

Discussions at the Summer School – attended by 66 delegates from Germany and Southern Africa – mainly focused on aquatic biomonitoring and included perspectives from Germany and Southern Africa.

Questions such as ‘How to improve water quality?’ and ‘What about the impact of the catchment area, land use, and agriculture on water quality?’ were discussed.

According to Marinda Avenant, Lecturer in the Centre for Environmental Management, a two-pronged approach is often used: first, ecosystem-based biomonitoring, and second, specialised water quality and toxicity-assessment methods applied at specific sites in order to identify problems.

Presenters from academia, government authorities, and the private sector shared theoretical concepts and practical experiences of establishing aquatic biomonitoring networks in Germany, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), and Zambia.

The Summer School focused on an integrated approach, including catchment processes, hydrology, geomorphology, and land use, as well as chemical and biological monitoring.

Delegates also undertook a field trip to Mokala National Park for a practical demonstration of water-quality monitoring as part of the programme.

The Volkswagen Foundation (Germany) funded the Summer School.

News Archive

Kovsies in top four in Global Business Challenge

2015-05-06

Photo: Mark Steenbok (Bloemfontein Courant)

Christiaan Paulsen (team leader), Sias Conradie, Jannie de Wet and Frikkie Jacobs.

Four Kovsies in the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Sciences are one of the top four teams in the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants’ (CIMA) Global Business Challenge. 178 teams registered to participate in the competition.

Team Bernoulli from the UFS will compete against two teams: one from the University of Pretoria and one from the Chartered Accountant Training Institute in Sandton. The winning team will win a trip to Poland, Europe to represent their university and country at the 2015 global final.

This international business competition is for undergraduates around the world, designed to bring out the best in the young business leaders of tomorrow.

Team leader, Christiaan Paulsen, said: “We are overjoyed to be in the final. However, our true success is in what we learned along the way”.

The team has to present a business case study, showcasing their talent in business management. During this competition, the team has

learned to analyse and solve a real-life business case study;
-obtained first-hand experience of the skills required to be a business leader;
enhanced their team building skills; and
developed their presentation skills.

Students from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Ghana, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Ireland, GCC, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Phillipines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vietnam, and Zambia are taking part in the competition.

This competition is organised by CIMA in conjunction with Barclays.

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