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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

Expansion to Physics building officially opened on Bloemfontein Campus
2016-05-06

Description: New Physics building Tags: New Physics building

The newly-opened addition to the Physics Building on the Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Charl Devenish

An extension to the Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS) was officially opened on the Bloemfontein Campus on 20 April 2016.

“This started off about five years ago when we were talking about not having enough room for large classes. Prof Matie Hoffman suggested that we build a large lecture room on our parking space,” said Prof Hendrik Swart, Professor in the Department of Physics as he addressed guests at the official opening ceremony.

“A year later, we received a Sarchi Research Chair [South African Research Chairs Initiative] on Advanced and Luminescent Materials. We needed more office and laboratory space. The two ideas were combined and presented to the university’s senior management,” he added.

When the university was founded in 1904, Prof James Lyle was appointed to head up the Physics and Chemistry departments. Five years later, a single room was allocated for the Physics laboratory in the main building upon its completion. In 1947, the old Physics building was designed and constructed. Fast forward 69 years, the department has reached another milestone. Facilities accommodated by the expansion include a new telescope for astrophysics experiments, a basement for storing old equipment, as well as a sliding trap door which allows heavy goods to be elevated into the building from the ground floor. The telescope is one of the many unique features of the building given its capacity to expose graduate students to the basic techniques of radio astronomy, especially in light of the fact that the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) project which is in progress.

“Our department is extremely strong at this stage, and a bright future lies ahead,” said Prof Koos Terblans, the Head of Department. The opening also served to celebrate the 103 publications achieved by the department last year.

Dr Lis Lange, Vice-Rector: Academic is proud of the heights reached by the department to date. “The Department of Physics is undoubtedly one of the jewels in the crown of our university, and we are very proud of its developments. Universities are built on legacies, and they are also about change, which is what this department has been demonstrating.”

The expansions to the building with its top-class facilities, was constructed at a cost of R25 million – an infrastructure grant courtesy of the Department of Higher Education and Training.

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