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01 November 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Henda Kleingeld, Programme Director of the Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (PGDIP) in Financial Planning, is incredibly proud of the candidates who ranked top five in the CFP® Professional Competency Examination.

To become a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), a candidate with a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning or a BCom (Honours) in Financial Planning must, among others, pass the Professional Competency Examination (PCE) of the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI).

It was recently announced that the top five CFP® Professional Competency Examination candidates (for the June 2022 examinations) are alumni of the School of Financial Planning Law (SFPL) at the University of the Free State (UFS).

On the right trajectory

According to Henda Kleingeld, Programme Director of the Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning Law in the Faculty of Law’s SFPL, they are incredibly proud of the candidates. 

“Being rated as the top five PCE candidates indicates that we are on the right trajectory with the outcomes and assessments for our diplomas. If the top five PCE candidates are alumni of the SFPL – we are doing something right.  We have made many changes in our approach to financial education, and it seems like it is paying off.”

“We now need to ensure that we provide our students with the proper academic background and support to continue to excel.  This will seal our status as the oldest and one of the leading educational providers of financial planning education in the country,” Kleingeld adds.

Confidence in the qualification

The PCE sets candidates on the path towards becoming certified financial planners. The online exam consists of two case studies that test the candidates’ financial planning skills, knowledge, and competent performance in the defined competency areas for financial professionals.

In its Professional Competency Examination Policy, the FPI states that there are six Financial Planning components: Financial Management, Asset Management, Risk Management, Tax Planning, Retirement Planning, and Estate Planning. It strives to prepare professional competency examinations that will provide candidates with the opportunity to demonstrate core or professional competence at a standard appropriate for entry into the financial planning profession.

According to the FPI, the CFP® qualification – an internationally recognised standard for financial planning professionals – gives consumers confidence that the financial planner they are dealing with is suitably qualified to provide advice and information and gives the assurance that they remain up to date with developments in the industry.

First academic institution to offer diploma 
Kleingeld says the SFPL was the first academic institution in South Africa to offer the Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning, and financial education has been its main focus and passion over the past 20 years.

“Keeping up with industry trends is very important to us. Our team of academics and industry experts assists us with maintaining a balance between the academic requirements and how they are translated into the workplace,” she explains.

Kleingeld is of the opinion that the graduates who have passed their qualifications are doing exceptionally well in the industry, with many prominent industry leaders being alumni of the UFS SFPL.  “The school has a reputation in the industry as forward-thinking and innovative. We keep our fingers on the pulse of industry developments, which get incorporated into our curriculum.” 

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Young researchers shine during Afromontane Colloquium
2016-12-01

Description: Afromontane Colloquium  Tags: Afromontane Colloquium  

From the left are Drs Reetu Sogani (India),
Greg Greenwood (US-Switzerland), Teboho Manchu
(Acting Campus Principal), Drs Jianchu Xu (China),
Henri Rueff (Switzerland), Glen Taylor (Senior Director:
Research Development), and Elsa Crause
(Campus Vice-Principal: Academic and Research).

The University of the Free State’s Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), which is situated on the Qwaqwa Campus, has the potential to produce some of the world’s best and dynamic young researchers. This is the view of Dr Henri Rueff, who was one of the keynote speakers during the recent ARU Colloquium hosted at Golden Gate in the Eastern Free State.

Dr Rueff, a geographer and environmental economist from the Universities of Basel and Bern in Switzerland, was referring to no less than ten Qwaqwa Campus postgraduate students who made oral and poster presentations during the inaugural international colloquium.

“You have some of the world’s most motivated and highly skilled students who have the courage to stand in front of extremely critical scientists from all over the globe – and that must be commended,” he said.

Also talking about the students at the colloquium, was Dr Reetu Sogani from India, who said that her first trip to South Africa did not disappoint. “This colloquium was a very good learning experience for me as I had the opportunity to interact with brilliant and young scientists from this part of the world,” she added. In closing the colloquium, the Senior Director: Research Development, Dr Glen Taylor, committed the UFS to the success of the unit.

“The ARU will strengthen the research output of the campus. But most critically, it is setting the research agenda for the Qwaqwa Campus, and for the institution at large, to address the challenges that the surrounding mountain communities are faced with,” he said.

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