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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

Inaugural lecture: Microbial interaction in foods
2005-09-06

Prof Bennie Viljoen from the Department of Microbial- Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the University of the Free State (UFS) will deliver his inaugural lecture on Wednesday, 7 September 2005 at 19:00 in the CR Swart Auditorium on campus.  

The topic of the lecture is “Microbial interaction in foods:  Emphasis on yeasts”.

Prof Viljoen was appointed as lecturer in the Department of Food Science at the UFS in 1989.  He was promoted to senior lecturer (1994), associate professor (1997) and professor (2004) in the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology.

Prof Viljoen is a NRF B-evaluated scientist, author or co-author of 63 papers in accredited professional journals and seven chapters in scientific books. He contributed to 31 international congresses; four as keynote speaker and eight on invitation, as well as 84 national conference papers. He successfully guided eight Ph D and 20 M Sc students and currently supervises for six Ph D and four M Sc students.  He serves on the International Dairy Federation, the International Commission of Food Mycology and the editorial board of international journals. His research focuses on food microbiology, specialising on yeasts.

For any enquiries, please contact Ms Joan Nel at (051) 401-9301.

Media release
Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel:  (051) 401-2584
   Cell:  083 645 2454
   E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
5 September 2005
 

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