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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

Visually impaired UFS student an inspiration
2016-10-05

Description: Zingisa Ngwenya Tags: Zingisa Ngwenya

Zingisa Ngwenya at the 2016
Spring Graduation Ceremony at the Callie Human
Centre on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Johan Roux

“Zingisa, I saw the tears streaming down your face when you were being hooded,” said an emotional Dr Khotso Mokhele, Chancellor of the University of the Free State. “And you were not the only one with tears streaming down your face.”
 
Zingisa Ngwenya, a visually impaired BA Communication Science student, was one of those who graduated at the UFS 2016 Spring Graduation on 15 September 2016 at the Bloemfontein Campus. By her side were her guardians, Derek Watts, the presenter of the current affairs TV programme Carte Blanche, and his wife Belinda.

Dream becomes reality with support from community
Watts first met Ngwenya at the Audi Pioneer School Rally in Worcester, Western Cape, in which she was his co-driver. He admired her ability to read all her instructions in braille. “I was inspired by her because she had lost her sight late in her school career,” said Watts at the graduation ceremony. Ngwenya was academically strong and her aspirations to go to university led to the relationship.  

The UFS Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support, the Kirsty Watts Foundation, Gavin Fourie from Richmond, and Symington and De Kok law firm in Bloemfontein helped make Ngwenya’s dream a reality. “We managed the facility for her to do well, but it’s nothing compared to what she has done to get this degree,” Watts said.

Support from Watts family made things possible
Ngwenya will be studying towards a law degree at UFS, as well as working part-time at, Symington and De Kok. “She never bemoans what has happened to her in life. She just looks ahead to make the most of her life,” Watts said.

“Derek and Belinda’s support means everything to me. Without them it would not have been possible because it has really been a struggle, but they believed in me,” Ngwenya said.

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