Univen receives CA accreditation
THE University of Venda (Univen) now has chartered accountant accreditation thanks to a partnership between the university and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).
VENDA – THE University of Venda (Univen) now has chartered accountant accreditation thanks to a partnership between the university and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).
SAICA gave an update on the partnership in Polokwane last week. According to SAICA nation building, transformation and growth, professional development executive director, Chantyl Mulder, the need to partner with universities was to ensure they offered quality degrees. “We understand that employers prefer accredited degrees so we want to provide a platform where students can study and reach their potential knowing that their education is of the best quality,” she explained.
She said SAICA wanted Univen, being a rural-based institution, to gain the same recognition with students at the University of Cape Town and elsewhere. “Since we partnered last year, students have produced good marks regardless of being in a rural-based campus. There is a lot of potential within the province so people don’t have to move to other provinces with institutions that are accredited with us,” she said.
Mulder said local government should get involved by creating work opportunities for the postgraduates so that they could apply their skills and knowledge to empower their own.
She said SAICA also had the Thuthuka bursary fund, which was awarded to students in B.Com accounting.
“We currently have 148 candidates at Univen who are beneficiaries of Thuthuka. We provide them with accommodation and textbook fees, pocket money, tuition fees and support activities such as tutorials. We want to ensure that their needs are taken care of so that they can concentrate on their studies without financial worries,” Mulder explained.
SAICA transformation and growth project director, Matsoso Tsoeli, said chartered accountants had a variety of career options to choose from and they could venture into being business owners as well. “We want to restore the profession of chartered accountants all over the country and produce responsible leaders,” Tsoeli said.
