Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
20 April 2023 | Story Kekeletso Takang | Photo Charl Devenish
Dr Carla Serfontein
UFS School of Accountancy Senior Lecturer, Dr Carla Serfontein, obtained her PhD in Management Accounting.

How many chartered accountants do you know who are also PhD holders? Dr Carla Serfontein, Senior Lecturer in Management Accounting in the University of the Free State (UFS) School of Accountancy, challenged the status quo. Dr Serfontein walked across the Callie Human stage during the morning graduation session on Wednesday 19 April 2023.

Obtaining a PhD is a milestone in the career of any academic, attesting not only to being a subject matter expert with proven credibility, but also to many hours of personal sacrifice and commitment to their discipline. Individuals who hold a PhD while also being a chartered accountant (SA) are relatively scarce, but this is an ideal combination for South African accountancy academics – as they have stature both from a professional and academic perspective. The UFS School of Accountancy is fortunate to have three such individuals, including Dr Serfontein, who was recently awarded her PhD in Management Accounting.

Dr Serfontein says obtaining her PhD in her lecturing field has expanded her knowledge in the subject area. “The UFS supported me by giving me the opportunity to be supervised by two truly outstanding academics, Prof Van Aardt Smit and Dr Cornelie Crous. That, to me, was an invaluable contribution, not only in obtaining this qualification but also in the growth that I experienced on this journey.”

Prof Frans Prinsloo, Director of the School of Accountancy, says he is proud of Dr Serfontein’s achievement. “With her thesis, Cost Efficiency at South African Universities, she highlights the flaws of conventional budgeting techniques in ensuring cost efficiencies and maximising input-output relationships at South African universities.  This is indeed a ground-breaking study and holds significant implications for how universities should be managed from a financial perspective. We are proud to have individuals of Dr Serfontein’s stature in the School of Accountancy.”

News Archive

UFS introduces its Study-4-Free at Kovsies Project
2011-01-25

The University of the Free State (UFS) invites all former students who require one or two modules for the completion of a degree, diploma or certificate to complete their studies for free in 2012.

Under the university’s ‘Study-4-Free Project’, former students with a maximum of two outstanding modules may apply for the opportunity of completing those modules free-of-charge. This once-off offer covers only tuition and registration fees.
 
Students will have to meet certain criteria and apply in order to take part in this once-off ‘amnesty’ offer. Only former UFS students who were registered between 2005 and 2010 will be considered. The offer is applicable to Bachelors and Honours degrees, diplomas and certificates with the added condition that the outstanding modules are still part of the university’s current curriculum.
 
Once students are approved to take part in the project, they may only complete their outstanding modules during the 2012 academic year. If a student should fail for any reason to complete the one or two modules in 2012, they will not be able to take up the offer again.
 
Students who meet the above-mentioned criteria can apply by sending the following information to study4free@ufs.ac.za full name and surname, UFS student number, the faculty in which the student was registered and the name of the outstanding degree, diploma or certificate in question must be supplied.
 
The closing date for applications is 31 July 2011.
 
 
Media Release
25 January 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (actg)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
 

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept