Busy recess for NMMU George
Campus hosts cutting-edge engagements during the winter holidays
While most NMMU students enjoy a well-deserved winter break, the university’s campuses remain a beehive of activity during July. This includes the NMMU George Campus which is set to host a number of cutting-edge engagements, including the “Palaeoscape 2014” symposium which is set to attract more than 35 scientists; various sport events; a ground-breaking collaborative winter school for postgraduate students in the sphere of ecosystems and sustainability; as well another winter school that accommodates learners from the southern Cape with an interest in accounting.
Besides hosting the annual USSA Surfing Championships at Vic Bay recently, NMMU George will also cater for a number of on-campus sport initiatives during the winter recess, including the NMMU Madibaz Football Training Camp (14 – 16 July) , and a training camp for Ajax Cape Town (9 – 16 July).
This is in addition to the seasonal influx of holiday guests who vie to utilise the available on-campus accommodation as a base to explore the magnificent Garden Route, while enjoying the amenities and environmental quality that the NMMU George Campus offers.
Postgrad students gain leading academics’ insights on ‘Ecosystems and Society’ at NMMU George
In a ground-breaking first for NMMU, the university’s Sustainability Research Unit (SRU) and the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS) initiated a winter school on ‘Ecosystems and Society’, attracting top academics and more than two dozen postgraduate and post-doctoral students from seven universities, including NMMU, to the university’s George Campus at the start of the winter recess.
The SRU-SAPECS Ecosystem and Societies Winter School, presented in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR), SANParks and the universities of Rhodes and Stellenbosch, was aimed primarily at PhD students in their first year of study who are “finding their feet in the complex field of social-ecological systems research”, said Prof Christo Fabricius who heads up the SRU at NMMU George. The link between ecosystems and society is at the core of these students’ research and involves disciplines such as environmental science, conservation ecology, botany, zoology, anthropology and geography.
Learning facilitators for the five-day workshop included Dr Reinet Biggs of the Stockholm Resilience Centre; Dr Georgina Cundill, Prof Heila Lotz-Sisitka (Rhodes University); Dr Luthando Dziba (CSIR); Prof Christo Fabricius (NMMU); Dr Rika Preister (University of Stellenbosch); and Dr Dirk Roux (SANParks and NMMU). A number of experienced PhD students furthermore participated as tutors and facilitators.
The Winter School commenced with a field trip in and around the Garden Route National Park where practitioners working at the interface of ecosystems and societies highlighted the practical challenges they face. This was followed by seven interactive capacity development sessions between new scholars, established academics and senior postgraduate students. Students were required to bring along their own research proposals and methodologies, which were refined as the workshop progressed, and evaluated at the end of the meeting.
‘Palaeoscape 2014’ symposium attracts top scientist to NMMU George Campus
From 7 to 10 July NMMU George Campus will host approximately 35 scientists at the ‘Palaeoscape 2014’ symposium organised by distinguished Professor Richard Cowling of the botany department at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth.
Keynote speakers at the symposium include, amongst others, Prof Tim Noakes, professor of Exercise and Sports Science at the University of Cape Town and Professor Curtis Marean, an associate director of the Institute of Human Origins and professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University in the USA.
During the symposium, participants will also enjoy field trips to both Mossel Bay and the Klein Karoo.
Boost for SC learners’ accounting knowledge at INVESTEC/NMMU winter school
Thanks to an innovative partnership between NMMU’s School of Accounting and INVESTEC Grade 12 Learners from schools in George and environs will have an opportunity to sharpen their accounting skills prior to the final school exams.
The Investec / NMMU Accounting Winter School has been scheduled at NMMU George Campus from 14 to 18 July and more than 200 learners from the Southern Cape region have registered to attend it. Besides honing their subject knowledge, learners will also be exposed to various aspects of campus life.
NMMU’s BCom Accounting programmes are internationally acknowledged, like all NMMU’s qualifications. The BCom Accounting programmes, offered both in Port Elizabeth and George, are high in demand and continues to attract high calibre students who achieve excellent academic outcomes.