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UFS promotes student development through industry visits

07 July 2023 | Story Kekeletso Takang

UFS Industry VisitsUFS Industry Visits - promoting student development — Students from the University of the Free State (UFS) recently had the opportunity to visit four Bloemfontein companies as part of their learning experience in the School of Accountancy.

The University of the Free State (UFS) is committed to producing employable graduates. Being student-centred, the UFS is continuously seeking opportunities to promote the learning experience by taking a holistic approach where teaching and learning extend beyond the four walls of a lecture hall. It is to this end that the UFS School of Accountancy recently took hands with local businesses to expose students to the real world of work through industry visits.

Aimed at providing students with insights into the real world, the industry visits are the initial point of contact between students and the working industry. The approximately 280 students in the Bachelor of Accounting (final-years), Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Accounting, and Postgraduate Diploma in General Accountancy were exposed to the real world so they could see first-hand what professional accountants do, how the business world works, and how their different modules integrate.

Four of Bloemfontein’s largest companies agreed to host a group of 70 students each. Students were given the opportunity to sign up for the company they found most interesting. The companies – Raubex Infra, SA Truck Bodies, Interstate Bus Lines, which sponsored transport to and from all the companies, and Sun Windmill Casino – function in the construction, manufacturing, transportation, and entertainment sectors, respectively. Students were not only treated to talks by the directors and senior staff of all the companies who took time to address them and share insightful information about their operations, but also to tours and treats.

“The updated SAICA competency framework, which guides most of our teaching at the School of Accountancy, requires us to enhance our focus on professional values, attitudes, and acumens (PVAAs). The industrial visits specifically address business acumen, but the added benefit is that it inspires and excites students, as it exposes them to where they may be in future," says Ané Church, Lecturer in the School of Accountancy.

The industry visits were not only fun and tours, but students were also tasked with writing a reflective essay after the visit, setting out what they learnt, found interesting, and would recommend to the respective companies. This, in turn, addressed students’ writing skills and uses reflection as a means of learning.

News Archive

ANC is not a party of the people - Mbeki

2010-08-30

“The unions in this country do not understand the political economy of South Africa. They think that the ANC is the party of the people. The ANC is the party of the black middle class. The fact that the masses vote for it does not mean they control it. The policies of the ANC favour the black middle class and the established businesses. They do not favour the working class.”

This was said by renowned economic and political commentator Mr Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of former president Thabo Mbeki, during a guest lecture he recently presented to Economics students of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

“You just have to look at the types of houses that the ANC government builds for ordinary South Africans,” he said.

“If you had a party that was a pro-working class party it would not have built these so-called RDP houses that are being built by the ANC government. The unions have all along been under the illusion that the ANC is the government of the working class and (Zwelinzima) Vavi and them are now beginning to realise that this is not the case.

“The public-sector workers are in a special dilemma. They think the ANC is their ally but at the same time they feel they are not getting any benefits out of this alliance. Therefore you are beginning to get a very acrimonious environment emerging between the public-sector unions and the government.”

Regarding the current issue of the Protection of Information Bill and the proposed media tribunal that have brought the media and the government onto a collision course, Mbeki said the ANC government was trying to muzzle the media because it wanted to safeguard corruption within government.

“The question of freedom of information is very closely linked to the rise in corruption in the government,” he said.

“What the politicians are doing is that they are trying to hide that corruption. The media in this country have been playing a very critical role in exposing cases of corruption. That is why Vavi now has bodyguards.”

He said he recently met Vavi, the General Secretary of Cosatu, surrounded by four bodyguards. He said Vavi told him that he was getting death threats because he was opposing corruption in government.

Mbeki said the economic policies of South Africa were the “worst in the world” because they benefited people who were already rich and militated against the emergence of entrepreneurs.

“In fact, one of the serious downsides of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is that it takes people who should normally be entrepreneurs and who should be creating new companies and new jobs, out of that space and just makes them wealthy. BEE has been a disaster because it created this massive economic inequality; it created this class of idle rich who have tons of money but do nothing,” he added.

He said the under-investment in the economy was having dire consequences in terms of unemployment and poverty. He said this, coupled with the growth of consumption that Black Nationalism was driving, was actually driving down the ability of the economy to absorb labour.

“What really lies at the bottom of our economic problems in South Africa is that we have too much of a one-party dominance of our political system. We need more competition in our political system and until we realise the policies of the ANC are not going to change,” he said.

Mbeki’s guest lecture was on the topic: Architects of Poverty: Why African capitalism needs changing.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
30 August 2010

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