Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

UFS Accounting students win Project Alpha competition

21 June 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Ernst & Young

UFS Accounting Students win EY Project Alpha — At the Ernst & Young Project Alpha 2019 Awards, some of the members of the winning team, from left: Kyle du Bruyn, Luke Rhode, Janri du Toit, Nicolaas van Zyl, Mojalefa Mosala (Business Ethics Lecturer), Bianca Malan, Lorandi Koegelenberg and Frans Benecke.

A few years ago the news was saturated with Volkswagen’s (VW) fuel emission scandal. “Dieselgate”. Investigations in the US found the German automaker guilty of programming computers in their diesel cars to alter its engine operations to seemingly meet legal emission standards.

A question of ethics

A notice of violation of the Clean Air Act issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency had dire consequences for the automobile company, but positive implications for the economy and the environment. As part of a lawsuit settlement, vehicles were recalled, fines were paid, and approximately 21 million affected vehicles with VW diesel engines were refitted by September 2015.

Project Alpha tackles ethical issues

A group of eight students from the University of the Free State (UFS) presented their case study of “Dieselgate” to a panel of judges in this year’s Ernst & Young Project Alpha competition. They emerged as the ultimate winners.

The “Hoaxwagen” group’s 10-minute video demonstrated “a critical assessment of a multidimensional matter” captivating the judges. “I was impressed, because their presentation addressed other skills such as the ability to present, communicate, come out of their comfort zone and be innovative, while at the same time addressing an ethical issue,” said Mojalefa Mosala, a judge and Business Ethics lecturer at the UFS.

Centred on critical thinking

The UFS is the first university outside of Johannesburg that participated in the Project Alpha contest. Ernst & Young and the UFS have forged a strong relationship over the past few years, giving students a glimpse into the corporate world of accounting.

“Project Alpha encourages critical thinking and not taking things at face value, by looking a bit deeper, spending time to understand the pros and cons of any situation in order to make an informed decision,” said Frans Benecke, member. of the winning team that prevailed over 82 others. Benecke’s team walked away with R2000 shopping vouchers and a life-long learning experience.

Engaging in global conversations

Participation in the competition gave students the opportunity to be exposed to contemporary global thinking, which is strongly advocated in the UFS’s Integrated Transformation Plan.

UFS Accounting students win 2019 Ernst & Young Project Alpha competition from University of the Free State on Vimeo.

News Archive

Young language Einstein set for Europe

2017-07-10

Willem Carel Brink will be studying in France and Italy
for the next two years as part of his master’s
degree programme
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

German, French, English and even Latin are just a few of the languages known by Kovsies’ own language guru, Willem Carel Brink.

This arty junior lecturer and 2015 Senate and Dean’s medal recipient at the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at the University of the Free State (UFS) received the Erasmus-Mundus bursary to conduct his master’s degree under the Erasmus Mundus Master en Cultures Littératures Européennes (CLE) title. He departs for Europe in September. “It is a structured interdisciplinary study which focuses on European literature, culture and other aspects,” Willem says. The subject for his thesis will be determined during the duration of the course.

Two-year course under Erasmus Mundus
The Erasmus CLE master’s is a two-year course which is presented by five partner universities in France, Senegal, Italy and Greece. Students are expected to indicate at which universities they want to study but cannot spend both years at the same university. “France was my first choice, because I know the language – which was a prerequisite for selection,” said Willem. He is fluent in Afrikaans, English, German and French!

“I will spend my second year in Bologna, Italy,” he said. It is therefore also expected that he does an Italian course during the first year to prepare him for the second year in Italy.

Future collaboration with UFS a prospect
Future collaborations between him and the language departments at the UFS are possible prospects for the future when he returns. “What makes this degree especially attractive to me is that it has value in terms of the local environment in the teaching of European languages and literature.”

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept