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Prof Hendri Kroukamp receives esteemed Donald C Stone Award

03 August 2021 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath | Photo Sonia Small (Kaleidoscope Studios)

Prof Hendri Kroukamp, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), has been selected as the 2021 recipient of the Donald C Stone Award from the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA). The award pays tribute to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to IASIA through excellence in leadership and enhancing the image of the profession, as well as other distinguished service to the success of the organisation. The award followed a call for nominations and a recommendation process managed by the Stone Award Selection Committee, after which the Management Board endorsed the award to Prof Kroukamp for his contributions to the organisation and to the advancement of public administration in the world.

“I am humbled by the gesture; it is a real honour to receive the award. For me, this is a validation of the work that members of the organisation do to find solutions to the problems faced across all levels in the public sector,” says Prof Kroukamp.

A dedicated public servant, Donald C Stone was the founder of the American Public Works Association. He is popularly recognised for his contribution to the implementation of the Marshall Plan, organising the executive office of the President of the United States, and the formation of action-oriented professional associations that serve global society. In 1961, Prof Stone was the founding member of the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration, an association of organisations and individuals whose activities and interests focus on education and the training of public administrators and managers. IASIA is an entity of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS).

More about Prof Kroukamp

Prof Kroukamp is currently Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the UFS (in 2018, he acted as Vice-Rector: Academic at the UFS, responsible for, inter alia, providing strategic leadership to the university and for the overall operational management of the academic portfolio of the university). He is a National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated researcher in the field of public administration and management, and a member of various national and international associations, editorial boards, and management boards. Prof Kroukamp is married to Tertia, a clinical psychologist, and they have two children, Dinki (29 years) and Hendri (27 years).

News Archive

Education is the key to the unification of black and white masses of South Africa

2015-11-13

From left are Dr Victor Teise (Head of School of Higher Education), Dr Mafu Rakometsi (CEO of UMALUSI), and Prof Sechaba Mahlomaholo (Dean of Faculty of Education).
Photo: Valentino Ndaba

In view of the divisive nature South Africa’s (SA) schooling system during the pre-1994 period, education appears to be one of the most potent unifying mechanisms of the democratic dispensation. With the elimination of Bantu education and the subsequent gain of access to basic and higher education by the historically-disadvantaged of this country, the schooling system is said to be building and reconstructing bridges which were burnt by the apartheid administration.

This opinion was shared by Dr Mafu Rakometsi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UMALUSI – the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training. Dr Rakometsi, a University of the Free State alumnus, presented a guest lecture titled: “Educational transformation in South Africa – lessons for the future” on Thursday 5 November 2015 at the Bloemfontein Campus.

The discussion of salient matters regarding education and transformation was hosted by the Faculty of Education in collaboration with Institutional Advancement: Alumni.

According to Dr Rakometsi, the transformation of education in SA can be viewed in the same light as that of government; where the nationalist policy was succeeded by democracy. “Education promoted the agenda of ensuring that there was no integration of the South African population,” he said of the past.

“Simply put, in SA, the black person was denied, and deprived of, human rights,” he added. Nonetheless, the declaration of human rights as enshrined in our constitution, and the conviction held by lobby groups, such as the Black Sash, that the young should seek and receive education led to transformation within the education sector.

Although that transformation has been accomplished, poverty continues to hinder access to education. Approximately 80% of the black students in higher education are from poor families, meaning that their parents are unable to fund the completion of their studies. Financial exclusion then translates to social exclusion, which relegates these underprivileged students into narrow enclaves. This results in a counter-transformation situation as a consequence.

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