University of the Western Cape Student Achieves Top Honors: Earns Best Economics Master’s Thesis Award from the Economics Society of South Africa
Wakefield’s master’s full thesis examined transitory and chronic unemployment by analysing the data of the first five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) panel data. An accredited journal article was later published in the Development Southern Africa journal.
In a historical achievement, this is the second time that a UWC Department of Economics postgraduate student has won the ESSA best thesis medal. A similar victory was celebrated five years ago when Tina Fransman won the medal in the same category.
Hayley’s higher education journey unfolded at UWC, spanning her undergraduate studies, Honours (cum laude) and her successful pursuit of her Master’s degree. Her Master’s thesis was supervised by Professors Derek Yu and Christie Swanepoel.
Expressing her emotions, Hayley said, “It was a pleasant surprise to have received the medal, and quite an emotional experience too. The journey to completing my Master’s came with ups and downs, and many sacrifices. But it paid off, indeed! I have challenged myself a lot, and learnt even more. Looking back and thinking about the journey of writing my thesis, I cannot express how grateful I am for the experience.
“Furthermore, I am extremely appreciative and thankful for all of the guidance and support from Prof Derek Yu and Prof Christie Swanepoel. They assisted in steering my work, and played an instrumental role in my success. I am immensely proud of myself, humbled and undeniably thrilled with the achievement!”
Prof Yu, who supervised Hayley’s Honours research long essay, and was the lecturer of her undergraduate final-year Econometrics module, remarked: “I always knew she had the potential to produce good work. It is just a bit frustrating that we had to wait for the outcome for two years, because we are all aware of the impact of the COVID-19-driven lockdown on many sectors, including academia. The Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA) finally had the chance to go through the 2020-2022 submissions early this year, and I was so excited upon being informed about Ms Wakefield winning the 2020 best Master’s thesis medal. It is still worth the wait after all, and it is a happy wait!”
Prof Swanepoel added that Ms Wakefield worked hard and consistently learned and improved. She said: “Hayley was an exceptional student who consistently submitted work for feedback, and she regularly incorporated questions and comments from the supervisors. She investigated new areas and was curious about the research process. I am incredibly proud of Hayley and her accomplishments, and know her career will be prosperous in the future.”
Prof Yu added: “It is fantastic to see our students winning such a prestigious medal, as they competed with submissions from other South African economics departments. I am proud of the hard work of Ms Wakefield and Prof Swanepoel. I also hope to see more students (and supervisors) winning the medal in the years ahead, not only at Master’s level, but also Honours and Doctorate levels.”