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06 April 2021 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath | Photo Supplied
Dr Johan Coetzee, Senior Lecturer and researcher in the Department of Economics and Finance and the UFS Business School
Dr Johan Coetzee from the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) is championing a collaboration with the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences (SUAS) in Austria, resulting in the receipt of a considerable grant from the European Union. 

In 2020, the decision was made to apply for Erasmus+ funding from the European Commission; after a successful grant, a formal inter-institutional agreement was signed in March 2021. The agreement is the culmination of a relationship between the Department of Economics and Finance at the UFS and the Department of Controlling and Finance at SUAS since 2008. More specifically, the relationship is built on the collaboration between the UFS’s Dr Coetzee and Prof Christine Mitter from the SUAS, who was recently appointed as a Research Fellow in Finance in the department. 

“I am extremely proud of the formalisation of the relationship between the two universities. In late 2019, a delegation led by the Dean of Economic and Management Sciences, Prof Hendri Kroukamp, together with Prof Philippe Burger and myself visited Salzburg to formalise and iron out the expectations regarding future collaboration,” says Dr Coetzee. 

“The Erasmus+ grant pays testament to not only on-boarding expertise from a foreign university with a strong niche in being practically relevant to the Austrian society, but also to affirming the relationship with like-minded scholars to provide students with a culturally rewarding university experience. This agreement brings together two departments with a history of working well together, and now it is a formal manifestation of years of mutually beneficial teaching and research efforts,” says Dr Coetzee.

“On the back of this agreement,” concludes Dr Coetzee, “our departments are also currently finalising a proposal to offer a consecutive degree exchange programme where prospective postgraduate students will obtain two master’s degrees in the broader field of finance and spend time on both campuses. We look forward to this becoming a reality in the not-too-distant future.”

In addition to their teaching and research collaboration, several additional academics from the Department of Economics and Finance are also involved in the teaching collaboration. Research projects have also been concluded in the past, with future projects in the pipeline.

News Archive

Six Kovsies included in SA U/19 team
2010-05-06

From the left are: Monique Lemon, Carmen Swanepoel, Lauren-Lee Christians, Nieke Loubser, Ané Botha, and Fikile Mkhuzangwe.
Photo: Gerhard Louw
During the South African Netball Championships that were recently held in Richards Bay, six students from the University of the Free State (UFS) were included in the top-twenty group of players in the country.

This achievement qualified Kovsies Nieke Loubser, Lauren-Lee Christians, Ané Botha, Fikile Mkhuzangwe, Monique Lemon and Carmen Swanepoel for the U/19 team. This team will participate in the Zone-6 Games (the African Games for U/19 netball players) in Swaziland later this year.

Ms Burta de Kock from KovsieSport at the UFS, said: “With the incredible support of the university, the group could not fail to achieve this. To have six players in the South African U/19 team of fifteen is a great achievement for the university.

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