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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

Juan Odendaal invited to training camp in Switzerland
2015-10-19

Juan Odendaal recently in action at the UCI Paralympic World Cup
for road races in Pietermaritzburg.
Photo: Bertus Odendaal

Juan Odendaal from the University of the Free State (UFS) was invited to be part of a training camp in Switzerland, together with some of the world’s leading para-cyclists.

This first-year BA student was recently selected by the cycling body, Union Cyclist International (UCI), to attend the camp which will be held in Aigle from 2-12 November 2015.

Afterwards, Odendaal, who has been the junior South African champion in the C3 division in road races, time trials, and pursuit races, will travel to Manchester, England, where he will compete in a para-cycling event from 13-15 November 2015.

Recently, he took part in the senior division of the UCI Paralympic World Cup for road races for the first time, and has performed well. In this event, which was held in Pietermaritzburg, he competed against participants from countries including Germany, Australia, Spain, and Russia.

Odendaal on 11 September 2015 took eighth place in the road race and tenth place in the time trial. The road race takes place over 55 km and the time trial over 24 km.

Odendaal said he realised immediately that he was competing at senior level.

“There was a marked difference in the quality of the races,” he said, about the World Cup in Pietermaritzburg.

“It was much faster than I had expected. The average speed was 37,2 kilometres per hour.”

Odendaal also made his debut for South Africa in March of this year at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. At this event, he finished in fifteenth place in both the time trials and the pursuit event.

Odendaal said his main goal is the World Championships, which will take place in Montichiari, Italiy, in March 2016. He is hoping to achieve good times there in order to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

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