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21 July 2020 | Story Nitha Ramnath | Photo UFS photo archive
The Department of Business Management within the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences is one of four successful recipients of the Nurturing Emerging Scholars Programme (NESP), which aims to recruit honours graduates who demonstrate academic ability and express an early interest in the possibility of an academic career. 

 “The NESP is a mechanism that addresses a potential shortcoming in the department in the medium to long term. Most of the academics in the department specialise either in entrepreneurship or marketing. As such, the availability of academics with interdisciplinary business knowledge who can teach and do research across the different sub-fields of business management is limited,” says Prof Brownhilder Neneh, Associate Professor in the Department of Business Management.

Once graduates enter the programme – as NESP master’s graduates they form part of a resource pool from which new academics can be recruited. 

Prof Neneh continues: “Considering the imminent retirement of academics in the department, the NESP provides an opportunity to recruit an academic who is able to work with experienced academics, gain experience, and ‘prepare’ the person to become an expert across the different fields in the department.”

“This programme would assist in succession planning within the department as well as training individuals within academia,” she says. 

According to Prof Neneh, access to this funding opportunity will further strengthen and expand the path that the department has embarked upon as far as striving for excellence in teaching, research, and community engagement is concerned, thereby contributing to address key societal challenges. “Appointing an NESP candidate would be an ideal opportunity to recruit an academic who will be able to work with the senior staff and gain experience and teaching/research competencies relevant to the 4IR, and ‘prepare’ the person to become the business management expert in the department,” she says.

News Archive

Phemelo crowned Miss Free State 2017
2017-06-09

Description:Mej Vrystaat, Phemelo Lekale Tags: Mej Vrystaat, Phemelo Lekale

Phemelo Lekale, a second-year BCom Accounting
student at the University of the Free State, is the
newly crowned Miss Free State 2017.
Photo: Wiaan Coffee Photography

“To me, this pageant is about empowering young women. It helped me realise my strengths and weaknesses; it taught me how I can overcome my weaknesses and use my strengths to the best of my ability.”

This is exactly what second-year BCom Accounting student Phemelo Lekale sets out to do during her reign as Miss Free State 2017.

Bring about change and make a difference

The Miss Free State pageant aims in assisting young women to reach out to their communities and charities to bring about change. The pageant also aims to make a difference in somebody’s life.

Phemelo, who takes over from last year’s Kovsie winner Mienke van Rooyen, said that she needed to grow and learn as an individual, and that is exactly what the Miss Free State platform gave her.

Excited about the opportunities lying ahead

When the announcement was made, Phemelo was filled with so many mixed emotions she only realised she was the new Miss Free State when Mienke handed over the sash. “It felt like someone was saying ‘yes, I believe in you and the vision that you proposed to bring to the table’.”

Phemelo said she was excited about the opportunities that came with being Miss Free State and the impact that this brand would have on society. “By the end of my reign, I won’t be the same woman I was when I entered and neither will I be the same woman I was when I won the crown.”

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