PUK student impresses Brits

A master’s degree student in Business Mathematics and Informatics (BMI) at the PUK Campus of the North-West University has impressed the Brits while doing 6 months of practical work at a prominent company in the UK as part of his master’s degree. Corné Strydom was the first BMI master’s degree student of the PUK to complete his industry-directed research project at an overseas company (Lloyds TSB in Brighton, England).

Strydom also obtained 90% for his final project evaluation. According to John Adam (Lloyds TSB), Strydom has done good work and compares favourably with the best from Oxford and Cambridge.

According to Prof Riaan de Jongh, Director of the Centre for BMI, this means that a BMI student, and therefore the BMI course, has been measured against First World standards. “The BMI course can now claim to enjoy international repute”.  Strydom is currently considering offers from both England and South Africa.

The BMI programme has already delivered 70 students, most of whom are employed by companies in the financial sector.  Students receive broad training, allowing them to pursue a wide range of professions in the financial sector (such as data geologist, risk manager, investment manager, actuary, financial engineer, and financial mathematician). Graduate students work at companies such as Absa, Standard Bank, NEDCOR, FNB, HSBC, RiskWorks, Ernst and Young, Transunion ITC and m-Cubed.

The Centre for BMI is supported by contracts with Absa and SAS Institute.  SAS Institute has established a risk laboratory at the Centre, and it was Corné’s knowledge of one of the SAS products, SAS Risk Dimensions, that made possible the placement in England.

The training of BMI students is unique in South Africa. Some universities offer certain aspects of the programme, but no other university follows the same intensive project-directed and practical industry-directed approach.  Part of the success of this field of study can be ascribed to the placement of students in practice settings under the guidance of an academic supervisor and a client project officer for solving actual and real problems experienced by that particular company. This year, 100 students have enrolled for the course at the PUK (instruction in Afrikaans) and Vaal Triangle Campus (instruction in English).

For more information about the BMI programme, please contact Prof. Riaan de Jongh at 018-2992575 or Mrs Shantal Swanepoel at 018-2992581.