CAS hosts Student Indabas across the country to strengthen relationships with stakeholders

Key to the College of Accounting Sciences' existence is its relationships with its stakeholders, particularly the students enrolled with the college. For this reason, the college engaged with students through a series of Student Indabas in the past few months. The purpose of the indabas was, among others, to address the South African Institute of Charted Accountants (SAICA) accreditation matter which has been one of the most critical matters in the college, but most importantly, to engage with students to improve the college's service delivery.

The indabas were led by the Acting Executive Dean, Dr Moses Hlongoane, and the Acting Deputy Executive Dean, Professor Cameron Modisane.

The KwaZulu Natal Student Indaba

The first indaba was held at the KwaZulu Natal Durban Regional Office on 13 August 2022. The delegation consisting of Hlongwane, Keba Ramushwana; Chair of Department of Financial Governance and Mpho Mathye; Coordinator: Student support, met with the students. The meeting marked the first time the college physically met with students since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first leg of the indaba kick-started with a visit to the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN), where Hlongoane and  Ramushwana visited the Dean of the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance. The purpose of the meeting was to exchange best practices between the two schools. The session was filled with ideas on how the college can better serve the students and improve the proctoring apps which the college currently uses.

The indaba also provided the Regional Student Representative Council with an opportunity to share some of the challenges the students face in the KZN region. Although students were pleased that the college initiated the meeting, they highlighted the need to continually create occasions for constantly interacting with students.

The College of Accounting Sciences team led by Acting Executive Dean, Prof Cameron Modisane at the Auditor General, Namibia

The Gauteng Student Indaba

In collaboration with the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA) Tshwane student chapter, CAS hosted an Accounting Indaba at the Gauteng Regional Office on 21 August 2022. Students were allowed to engage with the college management, including representatives from various departments. As part of the programme of the day, stakeholders from the Financial & Accounting Sector Education (FASSET), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Financial Information and Development Forum (FinForum) and the National Student Representative Council (NRSC) also gave presentations on some of the services they provide to students.

The Western Cape Student Indaba

CAS and the Western Cape Regional Office: Cape Town Campus hosted the Student Indaba on 17 September 2022. The indaba focused on undergraduate and postgraduate students and addressed all service-related challenges. Students were also allowed to discuss issues of academic dishonesty/plagiarism−one of the most significant challenges faced by the college since the introduction of online exams. Students gave the college suggestions on how it can curb the challenge and how the college can assist students in not falling prey to service providers who sell examination solutions.

The Namibia Student Indaba

A delegation from CAS that Modisane led travelled to Namibia to meet with the Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) students in Namibia, Windhoek. The students, through the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Namibia (ICAN) and the office of Auditor General, Namibia, requested the college to strengthen its support services for international students.

On 23 September 2022, the college met up with the students at the Auditor General's office in Namibia. The meeting brought together all CTA students, many of whom are currently serving their articles with companies such as Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Auditor General and ICAN. It was also interesting to note that students and lecturers from other universities also attended the event. Many were interested in finding out if Unisa would admit them into the college's CTA or Auditing programmes once they had completed their qualifications at their current universities. The interaction affirmed Unisa as a globally competitive institution and a university of choice in the continent.

*By Ntsako Mohlaba, Communications and Marketing Specialist, College of Accounting Sciences