On 17 April 2024, the Department of Human Resource Management (HRM) in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of Pretoria hosted its Annual Prestige Academic Prizegiving ceremony held at Adler’s on the Hatfield Campus to honour its top-achieving students.

The prize-giving ceremony took place on the eve of the HRM graduation ceremony, which made it extra special for the prize-winners who could celebrate their academic successes with their guests. The 2024 ceremony recognised students’ exceptional performance in the department’s undergraduate and postgraduate programs during 2023.

In his welcome address, Prof Alewyn Nel, the Head of the Department extended a heartfelt congratulations to the prize recipients, commending their unwavering dedication to their studies.

The department presented the following awards to its outstanding students in various categories:

Award Winners

Best achievement during the three-year study period for the degree BCom in Human Resource Management: Ashleigh Gray

Best achievement in BCom Honours in Industrial Psychology: Kailey Erasmus

Best achievement for the degree BCom Honours in Human Resource Management and Labour Relations: Maxine Whiteley

Best academic achievement in research subjects for the degree BCom Honours: Mariette Strauss

Best achievement in the degree MCom Industrial Psychology:  Natasha De Ravel De L’Argentiére 

Best achievement in the degree MCom Human Resource Management:  Zakiyya Gani

Best PhD student in the PhD Learning Programme: Amy Goble

One of the biggest awards for the evening was the Best Community Project for the BCom Honours Industrial Psychology degree, which was awarded to the following students: Andre Rust, Caitlyn Sherman, Tishca de Coning, and Kailey Erasmus. They collaborated with Express Employment Professionals and addressed an important issue in South Africa: unemployment. In communities like Olievenhoutbosch, Laudium, and Tembisa. they set up a station to assist individuals with career advice and how to develop a professional CV.  They also set out to equip individuals with valuable workplace skills needed to be successful and assisted Express Employment Professionals with recruitment, selection and placement of individuals. The project made a positive impact on communities, providing employment opportunities for who benefitted from the services the students offered.

Attendees at the event included not only the awardees and their guests but also industry partners who generously sponsored various prizes, alongside HRM academics. Prof. Nel expressed heartfelt gratitude to all present, including the prize-winners, their supporters, and the dedicated HRM staff for their pivotal role in fostering student excellence. Special appreciation was extended to the following sponsors of the esteemed awards:

Prize Sponsors:

• LexisNexis - Sponsored prize for the Best Student in BCom Human Resource Management
• SA Board for People Practice (SABPP) - Sponsored the best students in the MCom Industrial Psychology and MCom / MPhil Human Resource Management degree programmes
• Institute for People Management - Sponsored the best student in BCom Honours Human Resource Management and Labour Relations and the best student in BCom Honours Research Modules
• HCB Solutions - Sponsored Best Student in the BCom Honours Industrial Psychology
• AHI – Sponsored Best Student in BCom Human Resource Management

Prof Nel added, “together, we celebrate the outstanding achievements shaping the future of our profession. HRM is honoured and proud to sustain these industry relationships by celebrating the core reason for being an academic department by empowering and cheering on our future workforce” he said.

Prof Nel also thanked colleagues in his department, Prof Eileen Koekemoer, Lynette Govender and Nokuthula Ngwenya for their assistance in organising the event and also Yasmeen Ebrahim for taking the photos at the prize-giving ceremony.