Department rewards student achievers

Marisa Coetzee (photo) won the Cloete medal as the best postgraduate student in the department in 2010. This was announced last night at the departmental awards ceremony held at the picturesque Moore's End outside Stellenbosch. This award follows Marisa's earlier achievements, winning the Cloete medal for undergraduate studies as well as the award for best Law student. Marisa scored an aggregate 84% in her Masters year.

Rick Walker (pictured with Stan du Plessis) was awarded the ESSA medal for the best Masters dissertation. Rick investigated the undervaluation of exchange rates by constructing an innovative iPod index. Stan du Plessis, president of ESSA, noted that Rick received highly complimentary feedback on his submission and that the department is proud to deliver a student of his quality.

Genesis-analytics awarded a medal and monetary prize to the best Honours student. The prize was shared by Dawie van Lill (pictured below, right) and Dawie Scholtz (pictured below, left). Trishana Moodley (center) from Genesis-analytics presented the two students with the award.

Andrie Schoombee, head of the department, also announced the winners of the undergraduate year prizes. Calvyn Kirsten and Marizanne Knoesen share the Cloete medal for the best undergraduate student for 2010.

Rudolf Gouws, honorary professor in the department, kicked off the evening with a discussion about South Africa's comparative performance in relation to the top performing countries highlighted in the Spence report on economic growth. A quick survey was done to test the perception of South Africa's key indicators and the results will be posted on this forum in due course.