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23 October 2023 | Story SAMKELO FETILE | Photo SAMKELO FETILE
Third year students: Sipho Majenge, Thapelo Tinte, Dr Edson Vengesai, Busisiwe Nhlapo and Tsolofelo Zwane.
Third year students: Sipho Majenge, Thapelo Tinte, Dr Edson Vengesai, Busisiwe Nhlapo and Tsolofelo Zwane.

The University of the Free State (UFS), Department of Economics and Finance in the Faculty of Economic and Management Science, has recently made headlines by achieving remarkable success in the prestigious JSE Investment Challenge competition. The 3rd-year group secured an impressive second position, while the Honours group claimed an outstanding third place. These achievements are truly commendable, given the fierce competition and rigorous evaluation of financial acumen that characterises this national competition.

The 3rd-year group, consisting of Thapelo Tinte, Sipho Majenge, Busisiwe Nhlapo and Tsolofelo Zwane, showcased their financial prowess by excelling in trading futures, a complex financial instrument that demands in-depth knowledge and expertise. On the other hand, the Honours group, comprised of Dawie Bekker, Divan Koch, Keith Tarr, and William Oosthuysen, dedicated their efforts to the stock market. These talented individuals took on the trading aspect of the competition, meticulously constructing and managing their portfolios.

The significance of the JSE Investment Challenge

The JSE Investment Challenge, organised by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), is a prestigious national competition designed to introduce students to investment fundamentals, offering practical experience that equips them with the knowledge and skills necessary for informed decision-making in real financial markets. This educational stock trading programme also champions financial inclusion and equality by welcoming students from all fields of study. Distinguished by its association with the JSE, one of Africa's leading stock exchanges, the competition exudes credibility and prestige. Participation from universities across South Africa further enhances its national appeal. Moreover, it imparts invaluable real-world financial skills and knowledge, highlighting the participants’ ability to navigate the complexities of the stock market and effectively manage portfolios.

A test of financial prowess

In the challenge, each participating team is allocated R1 million in virtual money and is tasked with constructing a portfolio by purchasing securities on the JSE. This portfolio is closely monitored over six months, from March to September, with the team that generates the highest return across all universities declared as the winner. The rewards are enticing, with the top team receiving R30,000 and an all-expenses-covered international trip. The second and third-placed teams receive R20,000 and R10,000, respectively.

Dr Edson Vengesai plays a pivotal role as the guiding force behind the JSE Investment Challenge in the Department of Economics and Finance. He emphasises, “The success of the students in the JSE Investment Challenge reflects the institution's commitment to providing practical and relevant education. It demonstrates that the students are not only learning theory but also how to apply that knowledge in real-world scenarios. This achievement enhances the institution's reputation, particularly in the fields of finance and economics. It signifies a high-quality curriculum and a dedication to excellence in education”. 

For more information about the competition, interested individuals can contact Dr Vengesai through the Department of Economics and Finance in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences or via email at vengesaie@ufs.ac.za.

Dawie Bekker, William Oosthuysen, Dr Edson Vengesai, Divan Koch and Keith Tarr

Honours students: Dawie Bekker, William Oosthuysen, Dr Edson Vengesai, Divan Koch and Keith Tarr.

News Archive

During 2011: Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP)
2011-12-01

The University has designed the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP) to promote and support the intellectual breadth and depth required of young scholars to pose questions and generate knowledge in their disciplines and hence to occupy the vanguards of contemporary intellectual enquiry. The programme specifically targets members of the academic staff who are near completion, or have newly completed, their doctoral studies.

The goal is to select no more than 100 of the most promising young scholars and to make substantial investments in their development towards becoming full professors. A tailored, intensive programme of support is designated that combines international placement working alongside leading scholars in the discipline of the prestige scholar, with intensive mentorship and support from within the university.

 Description: 2011 PSP_Thuthuka  Tags: 2011 PSP_Thuthuka

Elite young scholars on the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme generated R1,2 million in National Research Foundation Thuthuka and Blue Skies funding in 2011 alone. Dr Katinka de Wet in the Department of Sociology was awarded Blue Skies funding for her work on the Hybrid Identity of the HIV/Aids patient. Thuthuka Grant holders Drs Cilliers van den Berg, Olihile Sebolai, Dirk Opperman and Diaan van der Westhuizen work in the fields of German and Afrikaans trauma literature, microbiology, structural and evolutionary biology, and architecture, respectively. This broad disciplinary range typifies the depth and extraordinary range of scholarship present among junior academics at the UFS.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Liza Coetsee Tags: 2011 PSP_Liza Coetsee

Dr Liza Coetsee, a Y2-rated physicist, is the first of the Vice-Chancellor’s elite cohort of Prestige Scholars to submit for National Research Foundation rating. Dr Coetsee works on the latest of the Nanotechnology Surface Science systems housed in our Department of Physics. As Prestige Scholar, Dr Coetsee conducts research on phosphor solar cells. Her aim is to establish a new Phosphor Solar Cell field at the University of the Free State with Proff. Hendrik Swart and Koos Terblans. As a member of the Prestige Scholar Programme, Dr Coetsee will work in collaboration both with colleagues from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and Prof. Eray Aydil from the University of Minnesota and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Olihile Sebolai Tags: 2011 PSP_Olihile Sebolai

Dr Olihile Sebolai is one of the 2 Vice-Chancellor’s elite Prestige Scholars and a microbiologist. In 2011, Dr Sebolai was awarded a Thuthuka Grant for his research on the yeast pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, the cause of life-threatening Aids-defining illnesses such as meningitis. Dr Sebolai considers how cryptococcal lipids mediate infectious processes leading to illness. An understanding of these cellular processes will offer hope for future drug development to combat the scourge of cryptococcal meningitis, annually causing the death of over half a million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Sebolai is also interested in mapping the prevalence and distribution pattern of cryptococcal meningitis in the Free State. This, in turn, will assist health authorities to manage current infections and plan appropriately for potential outbreaks. The Prestige Scholars Programme, with the assistance of the National Research Foundation, will afford Dr Sebolai the opportunity to pursue his research in laboratories in the United States and India in 2012 and 2013.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Louis Holtzhausen Tags: 2011 PSP_Louis Holtzhausen

Dr Louis Holtzhausen, member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme, has been named by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) as team doctor for Team South Africa during the All Africa Games, the largest sports event in Africa. National teams from African countries participated in 23 sports events. As an esteemed South African academic in sports medicine Dr Holtzhausens’ participation was an extension of the work already being done under his supervision at the UFS’s Sports Performance Unit. Many of the athletes who prepared at the Unit were also part of the team. Elite athletes’ illness and injury profiles are one of Dr Holtzhausens’ research focus areas. The exposure to this group in competition was of great value in the identification and development of research niche areas.


 Description: 2011 PSP_ Chantel Swart Tags: 2011 PSP_ Chantel Swart

The South African Society for Microbiology awarded Dr Chantel Swart-Pistor, a Prestige Scholar on the Vice-Chancellor’s elite programme, the top prize for her PhD during a recent gala dinner in Cape Town. Dr Swart-Pistor accomplished a breakthrough in the field of nanotechnology with The influence of mitochondrial inhibitors on zoospore and ascospore development. Her supervisor, Prof. Lodewyk Kock and co-supervisors, Dr Carolina Pohl and Prof. Pieter van Wyk, also stressed the important collaboration with Proff. Hendrik Swart (Physics) and Pieter van Wyk (Centre for Microscopy), which made Dr Swart-Pistor’s work possible. She has presented her work in Beijing (Medichem 2011) and Philadelphia (Biotechnology-2011). She has been invited to return to China in 2012.


 Description: 2011 PSP_ Lizette Erasmus Tags: 2011 PSP_ Lizette Erasmus

Dr Lizette Erasmus, scientific chemist and one of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars, has just returned from a three-month-long research visit to Prof. Hans Niemantsverdriet at the Technical University of Eindhoven in The Netherlands and the University of California, Davis. Dr Erasmus specialises in heterogeneous catalysis. Her visit to Prof. Niemantsverdriet, one of the global experts in the field of surface science, served to round of existing research. In California, Dr Erasmus visited her mentor, Prof. Bruce C. Gates, as part of the objectives of the Rector’s programme for the internationalisation of young researchers. Prof. Gates, an expert in catalysis, could contribute to Dr Erasmus’ research on the characterisation of heterogeneous catalysis and catalytic reactions. In exchange, her expertise in organometallic synthesis added value to Prof. Gates’ existing research. Their continued collaboration gave availed them of the opportunity for interdisciplinary interaction between engineering (Prof. Gates’ speciality) and chemistry, and promises to contribute to increased collaboration between the two universities in future.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Dirk Opperman Tags: 2011 PSP_Dirk Opperman

Dr Dirk Opperman, specialist in structural and evolutionary biology and National Research Foundation Thuthuka Grant holder, joined the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme after his postdoctoral work at the Max Planck Institute (KOFO) in Germany. Dr Opperman is the recipient of institutional seed funding to establish a protein crystallisation unit, which in turn led to the donation in 2011 of a multi-million Rand X-ray diffractometer¬ from the University of the Western Cape to complement his existing access to international synchrotrons. Dr Opperman is spending part of 2011 at the University of Exeter (UK) to further his research into the three-dimensional structures of specific enzymes and their trajectories of evolution to specific functions.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Abiodun Ogundeji Tags: 2011 PSP_Abiodun Ogundeji

Abiodun Ogundeji is a member of the Vice-Chancellor's Prestige Scholars Programme. Abiodun's work was recently recognised when he and his co-authors received an award for the best contributed paper at the 49th annual conference of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa on the topic, Impact of climate change on planning and dealing with flood disasters in South Africa: A case study of Soweto on Sea. The paper was co-authored by Prof. Giel Viljoen from our Department of Agricultural Economics and Herman Booysen, as well as Gawie du T. de Villiers, Research Associates in the Department of Geography. Abiodun is currently conducting invaluable research on the quantification of the economic value of climate change impacts and the benefits and costs of adaptation in South Africa.

 

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