Stellenbosch University: MA Day for Afrikaans and Dutch students

On Monday 13 June, eight MA students in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch showcased their research and their progress over the past six months by giving oral presentations on their research proposals.

The presentations form part of a new initiative in the Department, aimed at helping students to progress more rapidly and to learn from the research their peers are conducting. To this end, a research orientation week was held in January and students had to present their research proposals in June to an audience of staff members and fellow MA students. Besides those present in the Arts Building, presenters joined in from elsewhere in South Africa, from Namibia and, in one case, from a conference in Belgium.

According to Prof Ilse Feinauer, the holder of the Ton and Anet Vosloo Chair in Afrikaans Language Practice, who proposed the initiative, the MA Day was an immense success. In her roughly 40 years of involvement with the Department (as student and lecturer), this is the first time that so many MA students have made so much headway so quickly. Prof Harold Lesch, Chair of the Department, shared her view and added that it was fitting that the Department continued to find new ways of promoting research in its centenary year.

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