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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

Senior professor launches new book in London

2013-05-13

Alejandra Boni (left) is an associate professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in Spain and Melanie Walker is a Senior Research Professor and Director of the Centre for Higher Education and Capabilities Research (CHECaR) at UFS.
13 May 2013

Melanie Walker and Alejandra Boni (Eds.) were hosted by the Institute of Education at the University of London, in April to launch the publication of their new book, titled: Human Development and Capabilities: Re-imagining the university of the twenty-first century (Routlege).

In the face of reductionist and “thin” human capital approaches to higher education globally, the book imaginatively applies a theoretical framework to universities as institutions and social practices from human development and the capability approach. The book attempts to show how universities might advance equalities rather than necessarily widen them, and how they can contribute to a sustainable and democratic society.

Picking through the capability approach for human development, in relation to universities, this book highlights and explores three main ideas:

theoretical insights to advance thinking about human development and higher education
policy implications for the responsibilities and potential contributions of universities in a period of significant global change and
operationalising a New Imaginary

The book is available for purchase online and will be added to the library collection soon.

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