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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

Information day about crop production
2005-10-27

The Department of Soil, Crop en Climate Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) presented an information day about crop production at the Kenilworth experimental farm outside Bloemfontein. 

Various research projects that are currently conducted at the farm were introduced and explained to guests.  The day was attended by representatives from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Department of Agriculture, Omnia, Pannar, Senwes, Griekwaland Wes Koöp (GWK) and farmers from the commercial and developing agricultural sectors. 

The experimental farm is mainly used for the training of graduate and post graduate students and for contract research.  There are currently  2 Ph D's, 2 Master's studies and 1 research project for the Water Research Council (WRC) conducted at the farm. 

The facility is equipped with a centre pivot irrigation system, lysimeter complex for the insitu studying of plant-soil water relations and an automatic weather station.      

In his welcoming speech Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS said that in the past couple of years agricultural research in South Africa has deteriorated.   He said that the Faculty wants to commit itself to uplift and advance research by means of the experimental farm.  The Department of Soil, Crop en Climate Sciences aims to present regular sessions like this one at the experimental farm. 

 

Photo:  Stephen Collett

From left:
Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS), Ms Keletso Seetseng (Master's student in Agriculture at the UFS), Dr Ezekiel Moraka (Vice-Rector:  Student Affairs at the UFS) and Dr Leon van Rensburg (from the UFS Department of Soil, Crop en Climate Sciences).  Me Seetseng works on two Canola field experiments and manages 216 plots of these experiments.

 

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