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2023 Ernst Mach Grant recipient from the UFS

16 August 2023 | Story Rorisang Ramorena | Photo Supplied

Michael Skosana, a student on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Ernst Mach Grant scholarship exchange programme at the University of Applied Sciences in Austria.

Skosana, currently pursuing his honours in Financial Economics and Investment Management at the UFS, aspires to pursue not only his master's qualification but also his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) levels and regulatory exams and ultimately pass his board exams. Skosana is set to leave on 30 August to start the semester on 1 September 2023.

About the grant

The Ernst Mach Grant is a program aimed at students from non-European universities who wish to spend a semester or two at an Austrian University of applied sciences. The Austrian Ministry of Science and Research offers the Ernst Mach Grant to students with non-European citizenship who plan to take up exchanges at an Austrian university.

According to its 2023 – 2028 internationalisation strategy, the UFS aims to integrate international and intercultural dimensions into the university's being, including the formal and informal curriculum. The Office for International Affairs (OIA) enables such comprehensive internationalisation, and specifically its International Scholarships portfolio, under the leadership of Mbali Moiketsi, contributes by liaising with funding bodies for mobility, sharing information about possible opportunities, and supporting students through the process.

The responsibility of the OIA is to ensure that students and staff are exposed to intercultural opportunities as part of their learning curriculum through information sharing. The OIA partners and works with international funding agencies to bring the information to the students and staff and support them through the process.

Skosana's motivation to study abroad is to challenge himself on the spectrum of finance, to learn more about the Austrian and South African economies, and, hopefully, to work in Europe and gain insight before returning home to change the financial landscape of South Africa. He added that “the acquired skills will empower and develop the South African financial economy and educate South Africans on financial literacy, investments, and any financial goals they seek knowledge about.”

Furthermore, Skosana encourages students to be more open to knowledge and international experiences by participating in such opportunities. He emphasizes that “students should always want to broaden their intercultural and global competencies beyond academics.”

For more information related to scholarships and opportunities, contact Mbali Moiketsi at the following email moiketsimv@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

Vermeulen’s work on display at Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery

2015-10-26

Dot Vermeulen, Anthropology (2014),
Oil on plywood, 300 x 200cm.
Photo: Supplied

“I am primarily fascinated in the travelling or movement of images in different spaces and media. By moving images from one medium into another, or posting and reposting them in different urban and virtual spaces, I ask questions about media presence and space.”

According to the late artist Dot Vermeulen, this is what the work for her Master’s degree was about. She was still completing it at the Department of Fine Arts at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Her work, called Posting Presence, is currently on display at the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery on the Bloemfontein Campus. The exhibition is running from 1-30 October 2015.

Vermeulen was a junior lecturer at the Department of Fine Arts before she passed away in a car accident in April 2015.

According to Angela de Jesus, curator of the UFS Art Galery, the exhibition would have been part of Vermeulen’s final evaluation for her Master’s degree. She was one of South Africa’s most promising young artists, and won the prestigious Sasol New Signatures art competition in 2013.

In the work she had done in Posting Presence, Vermeulen said the spaces represented were derived from areas under bridges in an urban space where the visual messages left, speak of an accumulation of movement.

Exhibition event

An exhibition event was held on Friday 16 October 2015 at the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery to celebrate Vermeulen’s work.

Janine Allen-Spies and Prof Suzanne Human, the supervisors of her Master’s degree,spoke about the work to those attending.

Catalogue

De Jesus said a catalogue of Vermeulen’s research for Posting Presence had also been compiled, and would be available at the UFS Sasol Library in order for others to “use her work for further research”.

• Vermeulen’s work can be seen from 08:30-16:30 daily until 30 October at the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery on the Bloemfontein Campus.

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