After skipping grades 7, 9 and 10, Previn Naicker graduated from Wits with a PhD in Biochemistry last year at the age of 23. Wits Vuvuzela caught up with the alum at the end of graduation week.
He hopped out of his dad’s car, slung his sling bag over his right shoulder and made his way toward the science building. A relatively normal first day for any other university student, except that Previn Naicker was 14 years old.
Naicker graduated last year as the youngest Witsie to obtain his PhD in Biochemistry, at 23. In grade 6, he was offered a scholarship to Star College in his hometown, Durban, where he and several other pupils underwent an accelerated program. Naicker skipped grades 7, 9 and 10 and matriculated in 2005 at age 14.
After he obtained his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Naicker took a break from the books. “I took a gap year in 2010, to decide whether I wanted to pursue further studies or enter the job space,” he said. “Once I decided on furthering my studies, I realised that I needed to add to my arsenal of biochemical techniques.”
WHIZ KID: Previn Naicker is busy at work in the CSIR lab on the development of protein particles. Photo: CSIR
Previn set his sights on Wits in 2011 where he did his Honours, Masters and PhD. “As Wits is home to some of Africa’s leading protein biochemists, I decided to take on a Masters with Prof Yasien Sayed from the School of Molecular and Cell Biology,” he said.
Being considerably younger, Naicker said his age was always noticeable but positively received with age-related jokes which “lightened serious moments.”
Naicker said the greatest time spent at Wits was discovering things about his personal and scientific life. “It was a defining period of my life where I also met my current fiancé who is a fellow Witsie.” He felt his greatest achievement at Wits was that he attained an internationally reviewed PhD.
Naicker is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria where he undertakes research projects in the veterinary field and the development of protein particles.
Naicker aims to grow as a researcher in the upcoming years. “I would like to establish myself as an independent researcher and undertake translational research, research which has a direct socio-economic impact.”
The South African Press Association (Sapa) closed down last night after board members pulled the plug on the 76-year old wire news service. Social media users and professionals in the media industry voiced their sadness at the institution’s closure, however there is a possibility that a profit-driven wire service could be established in the near future.
The 76-year-old South African Press Association (Sapa) closed down yesterday after its last story was published at midnight.
Media reports indicated that the company’s future was uncertain for more than a year. The closure came after board members, consisting of representatives of institutions that funded the service, started to pull out of the “not-for-profit entity” since 2013.
Media professionals speak out
Jos Charles, chairperson of the National Press Club, said in a statement that “the club joins the South African media fraternity in mourning the sad demise of Sapa.”
Head of Wits Journalism, Professor Anton Harber, said in a radio interview that industry will not be same without Sapa as it played an important role as the “bedrock of South African news coverage for seven decades”.
“To me, more than anything else it symbolises the short-sightedness of most of our media owners, publishers and broadcasters who have failed to see the value of Sapa and failed to invest in it to deal with the challenges facing the news industry,” Harber said.
Liquidation, retrenchment and CCMA
Minette Ferreira, chairperson of Sapa, said the company will be liquidated after its assets were disposed of, as its non-profit category did not allowed for it to be sold-off.
Since last September proposals were received from Gallo Images, KMM Review Publishers and Sekunjalo Investments for the acquisition of the Sapa assets.
The Mail & Guardian reported that Sapa staff members were retrenched but in February this year, some staff took the organisation to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to challenge their dismissals.
Ferreira added that the Sapa board had “underlined its commitment to ensuring the interests of Sapa employees were correctly and meticulously attended to”.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 ended in Melbourne, Australia on Sunday. The 49 match schedule took international fans and participating teams on a roller coaster ride of emotions for a month and a half. This culminated in Sunday’s final in which Australia beat New Zealand on their home turf.
The 2015 Cricket World Cup was nothing short of exhilarating as New Zealand and Sri Lanka kicked off the group stage matches. From seeing Bangladesh earning a spot in their ever first World Cup quarter-finals match, to the teary-eyed South Africa Proteas who made their way home after the semi-final knockout against New Zealand, the Kiwis batted their way into the final against Australia.
Here are 7 of the most memorable moments of the #CWC2015:
1. Martin Guptill of New Zealand made 237 runs, the highest score in World Cup history, against West Indies. This took his team to the semi-finals.
2. Australian captain, Michael Clarke dedicated the team’s victory in the final to the late Phillip Hughes, 26-year-old Australian cricketer who died tragically from an injury sustained during a cricket match last year.
https://youtu.be/ALBpAWd96Lw
3. The South African team – the Proteas – were reduced to tears after being knocked out by New Zealand, who reached their first final in the history of the CWC.
The Proteas heartbroken after losing in the semi-final against the Blackcaps. Photo: 2015 Cricbuzz.com
4. Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lankan left-handed batsman, was the first man to ever score four consecutive centuries in the Cricket World Cup.
Kumar Sangakkara scored his 4th consecutive century in the World Cup in a match against Australia. Photo: BBC Sport
5. Tim Southee of New Zealand picked up 7 wickets for just 33 runs against England during the round-robin stage of the CWC 2015.
Southee picked up 7 wickets in a match against England. Photo: morningringer.com
6. South Africa’s AB de Villiers annihilated the West Indies bowling attack when he scored 162 runs off 66 balls.
AB de Villiers hits the ball out the park during a match against the West Indies. Photo: G Rajaram
Australian captain, Michael Clarke hoists the trophy, celebrating their 2015 Cricket World Cup win, in their home ground of Melbourne. Photo: icc cricket world cup 2015
The aeronautical engineering students took part in the Paper planes competition this past weekend. They are going to compete later this year in a fly-off against Tuks and will be working on projects like the Wits solar car.
Concentrated frowns turned into smiles and sighs of relief when several carefully folded paper planes, took flight and filled the open spaces of Flower Hall, on Wits west campus.
Students assemble on the landing strip to compare their paper planes before competing in the Paper Wings competition. Photo: Riante Naidoo
The 3rd year aeronautical engineering students took part in the nationwide Paper Wings competition on Saturday, March 21.
Over and above the 3rd year’s compulsory participation in the competition, Michael Boer, 3rd year lecturer for aircraft design, said he gets his class to do an internal competition in their laboratory every March.
“For most of them [the students], they never threw paper aeroplanes at school,” Boer said, “So for them it’s the first flying machine they’ve ever made.”
This year was 3rd year aeronautical engineering student, Daleel Motala’s, second year competing in Paper Wings. “It’s good to do practical things like this especially as a student engineer,” he said.
“Sometimes when you are sitting at your desk designing a concept for an aircraft, you need to have a sense of how the aircraft will fly, if at all, even before running the calculations.”
Students enjoyed the practical aspect of the course and Boer felt that a practical side is integral.
“Third year engineers don’t have a lot of free time and they also don’t have a lot of fun,” he said. “Often a student, whose marks are not particularly good, will end up winning the internal challenge, and the top academic students normally don’t do so well because they’ve over complicated it.”
Motala reached a distance of 16m on his long distance throw. He said he made the “wrong type of plane” and was okay with his performance at Paper Wings.
“I made it sleek and aerodynamic, but with that type of design you have to throw it with a lot of speed, and my throw arm isn’t great” he said. “I should have given my plane more wing area.”
The School of Engineering is involved in several projects, one with “unmanned aerial vehicles (drones),” and another upcoming project is to assist with the design of the Wits solar car.
Boer said the school has also had several great successes. “We have had some students working at big companies like Airbus, Boeing, and Formula1” he said. “The South African Aerospace Industry is built up by Wits graduates as we’re the only place that does this,” he added.
The school is looking forward to the annual radio control competition hosted by the Aeronautical Society of South Africa, in October. “Wits versus the University of Pretoria in a fly-off,” Boer said.
“Wits did very well and entered four aircrafts last year, unfortunately we did not win,” he said. “We’ve got a firm foundation of 20 students this year and are hoping for a win.”
Second year BCom students at the School of Accountancy are unhappy about course changes implemented at the beginning of this year. They have concerns about employment, the course work covered and transferring to other universities to study a postgraduate degree.
NOT A COLOURFUL SITUATION: 2nd year students at the School Of Accountancy are unhappy about course changes implemented at the beginning of this year. Photo: Riante Naidoo
Students in the Wits School of Accountancy have expressed unhappiness about recent changes in the second year curriculum.
The new curriculum, introduced at the start of this semester, now includes International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) but students say a lack of communication has led to uncertainty and confusion.
“The change caused a major uproar in the school,” Sewela Makgolane, second year BComAcc and chair of the Accounting Student Council (ASC), said.
Phiwe Fongoqa, 2nd year BComAcc, said returning students were not notified of the syllabus change prior to registration.
To Makgolane, the introduction of the new course means that “when you leave Wits with a BCom degree, you can’t really aim to work in a company that is not classified as an SME”.
Implications of the course change
Bursary students are also adversely affected by the change. “Some students are on a bursary with a company which expects them to learn the full standards,” Makgolane said. “You go back to your bursary holder and tell them you’re learning IFRS for SMEs and they respond by saying that they are not an SME.”
“Another challenge is that a BComAcc honours is no longer offered,” Makgolane said. “You can’t even look at the option of doing your honours at UCT (University of Cape Town) or elsewhere because elsewhere they are covering the full IFRS for SMEs.”
Although students were not notified of the syllabus change, accounting course coordinator, Yaeesh Yasseen, said: “The new syllabus was carefully thought out.”
Reasons for the course change
“Professor Robert Garnett who sat on the International Accounting Board in London developed the new system,” Yasseen said. “He [Garnett] said from an education perspective it is better to teach from the IFRS for SMEs, even UCT teaches via IFRS for SMEs in 1st and 2nd year.”
“Our bottleneck courses, used to be Financial Accounting 2 and 3 and saw a large number of failures,” said Head of School Professor Nirupa Padia. “Students would repeat until they were stuck in the system and then drop out with no degree due to financial constraints.”
“Previously students were leaving Wits with a BCom degree with majors which didn’t make sense and found challenges being employed because the net of the BCom is so wide,” Yasseen said.
“We changed the system in order to give these students the opportunity to have a Wits degree” Padia said.
Several students noted a communication gap within the school’s student and management levels. “There is a gap because there is not enough exposure for BComAcc students as most things are focused on AccSci students,” Makgolane said.
“This year we are looking to do a project with SARS who offer a two-year internship to BComAcc students,” she said. “We are doing our best to network and secure jobs for them [BCom students] because companies need accountants, not just chartered accountants.”
“Whether you are doing IFRS for SMEs or the full IFRS, the conceptual framework and principles are the same and covered in the three years,” Yasseen said. He also said the IFRS syllabus is available free online, whereas the text books cost R1 200 and need to be changed yearly.
A “refresher course” is offered to help BCom graduates transition into attaining an AccSci degree. Padia said this is part of the new system implemented aimed at getting more students to graduate and avoid them “getting stuck in the pipeline.”
The Wits Junction, the newest student residence in Parktown, has been termed the “Sandton” of Wits by students. With state of the art facilities and fully furnished, self-catering apartments, it is astonishing that Junction apartments and passages are not equipped with any smoke detectors.
Mhumelela Qolohle and Buhle Mquku, 3rd year medical students, often team up in the kitchen. This is their second year at Junction, however they experienced a ‘smokey’ issue last July.
“We use the oven all the time,” Qolohle said, “we were sitting outside while the chips were cooking and all of a sudden the room was steamy and there was smoke everywhere.”
“If there was a smoke detector, it would have stopped almost immediately after picking up the smoke” Mquku said. Feeling helpless and unaware of who to call, they switched the oven off and fanned the smoke away.
Unfortunately for their friend, Lindelwa Thumbathi, 4th year medical student, there was a fire at her apartment two years ago.
“My room was surrounded by my neighbours and a security guard” Thumbathi said. “The security guard could not do much himself and was acting like everyone else”. Thumbathi arrived and unlocked the room door, after the security had broken down her window to disperse the flames with the fire extinguisher.
“The security was helpless,” Thumbathi said, “he did not know what to do or who to call”. This is Thumbathi’s third year at Junction and in all three years she said there have not been practice fire drills.
Some Junction residents were unaware of the absence of smoke detectors in their rooms, while others were upset and thought it irresponsible on behalf of Junction, like 2nd year BA student, Nomhle Mncwango.
Other students highlighted incidents they witnessed of neighbours and nearby friends, like Msimisi Sacolo, 2nd year BCom Accounting student.
The Wits Junction, valued at R490 million, comprises of 700 bachelor units, as well as two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four bedroom units, which can host a maximum of 1 200 students. The cluster manager, accommodation officer, head of security and head of residence life could all not be reached for comment.
Since her announcement as the Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille has dominated national headlines. In this bonus episode of We Should Be Writing podcast, hosts Lulah Mapiye and Bonolo Mokonoto dissect a media meet-and-greet with the mayoral hopeful. From her extensive political résumé to her controversial public utterance, we examine why the Democratic Alliance has chosen Hellen Zille as their candidate for the 2027 local mayoral elections. Additionally, […]
