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UFS students attain a 94.7% pass rate in challenging SAICA exam

23 August 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba

UFS Accountancy students — The UFS School of Accountancy is fast becoming one of the best in the country.

Becoming a Chartered Accountant (SA) entails successfully completing the rigorous education and training requirements set by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). As part of these requirements, all prospective CAs are required to write SAICA’s challenging Initial Test of Competence (ITC). A total of 83 graduates from the University of the Free State (UFS) passed the 2019 ITC examinations, making the Kovsie community and School of Accountancy proud.

Prof Frans Prinsloo, the Director at the UFS School of Accountancy, applauded the successful graduates – of whom 39 are African, five coloured, one Indian, and 38 white. “More than 55% of our graduates who wrote the exam are black (African, coloured and Indian), demonstrating that our emphasis on building the pipeline of under-represented prospective Chartered Accountants (SA) is paying off in terms of both racial and gender inclusion.”

Rising above the ultimate test
SAICA released the results of the June 2019 ITC examination on Friday 16 August 2019. The ITC examination is the first of two professional examinations required for qualification as a Chartered Accountant (SA), and is written shortly after completion of formal university studies. There are two sittings of this examination annually, in January and June.

Compared to the national average pass rate of 75.4% for the 2019 ITC examinations, UFS BAcc Honours and Postgraduate Diploma in Chartered Accountancy graduates delivered a superior performance. The 94.7% pass show that our graduates are a force to be reckoned with.

Upping standards
More than 10 of the Thuthuka Bursary Programme graduates of 2018 who wrote the 2019 ITC examinations, passed, which translates into a 92% pass for this group. Such an achievement also confirms the success of the bursary programme ‘wraparound support’ interventions, by delivering results well in excess of the national average. These interventions also extend to the development of professional skills essential for the corporate world – thereby ensuring that these graduates are not only technically strong, but ‘work-ready’.

Best in the business of excellence
“These results place the UFS School of Accountancy amongst the best in the country in terms of Chartered Accountancy education, and is testament to the hard work of the academic staff and the quality of our CA programme,” says Prof Prinsloo.

News Archive

UFS Cardiovascular Research Centre a South African solution to continental crisis

2015-11-30

From left are: Dr Robert Kleinloog, president of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons of South Africa, Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Robert Frater after which the Robert W M Frater Cardiovascular Research Centre was named and Prof Francis Smit, head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the UFS, at the launch of the new centre.
Photo: Johan Roux

“You don’t have to be in New York or any big city in the world to establish a cardiovascular centre that delivers work of world standards. I’ve learned that extraordinary things are achieved by ordinary people who apply themselves accordingly. This research centre is a South African solution to a continental challenge”.

These were the words of Prof Robert Frater at the opening of the new Robert W M Frater Cardiovascular Research Centre in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of the Free State (UFS) School of Medicine.

The centre, one of only two of the kind in the country, will focus on bioengineering and cardiovascular research. It was opened on Wednesday 18 November 2015 in the Francois Retief Building on the Bloemfontein campus.

The centre is named after Prof Robert W.M Frater in recognition of his vast contribution to the UFS. He is internationally recognised for his outstanding academic, clinical, and scientific contributions to cardiac surgery. Prof Frater has also been actively involved in research activities of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery for the last 10 years. In 2011, he received an honorary doctorate from the UFS.

Under the leadership of Prof Francis Smit, head of Cardiothoracic Surgery, the department has been described as a dynamic unit at the forefront of meeting the different changes in Southern Africa while maintaining an excellent clinical and academic track record.

At the opening, Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, thanked Prof Frater for his presence at, involvement in, and support of the UFS. “I am looking forward to working in collaboration with the department to make this university a research centre of excellence in the continent”, he said.

The centre has existing endeavours already in operation, including Population projects, Clinical studies, and Clinical pathology, to name three. In collaboration with the Central University of Technology, the University of Stellenbosch, and Charite University of Berlin, among numerous others, the centre will be an appropriate help to an African challenge.

Its introduction promises advanced research outcomes with the potential to make the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery a world-class competitor.

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