College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2024 48 all within the region. PASCAL wants to increase the range of contributors as well as the number of beneficiaries. If communities are thinking in terms of regional development, they have a great opportunity to learn from similarly engaged regions around the world and from a variety of existing networks that can aid in those efforts. The 17th PASCAL conference “New Challenges for Higher Education, Cities and Regions: Addressing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in Changing Contexts”, was held from July 4th to 6th, 2024. The 17th PASCAL International Conference was co-organised and hosted with the University of Taipei, Taiwan University of Education, and Datong Community College in Taipei at the Howard Civil Service International House. The conference was also supported and sponsored by the Higher Education Reform (HER) network and followed from its own successful 17th conference in Glasgow in 2023, Sustainable Development Goals: their potential and relevance for higher education policy and reform. POLICY AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES A new contract to the value of R 4 800 000 was secured to capacitate municipal officials and councillors in the online Higher Certificate in LED. During 2024, 63 candidates completed the qualification successfully. Dr. Chane de Bruyn a post-doctoral fellow of CENLED had the following television participation: Live TV interview with SABC News regarding BRICS Summit, 22 October 2024 Live TV interview with SABC News regarding Trump’s 100% tariff increase for BRICS, 3 December 2024. TALENT MANAGEMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING CENLED’s director serves as the Director: PASCAL (Africa), as Chairperson of the Economic Development Council of South Africa, as a council member of the Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA) and as an official member of the Community of Practice for Entrepreneurial Universities of EDHE. CENLED’s director as appointed by the University of the Philippines School of Urban and Regional Planning (UP SURP) as a reviewer for the School’s official publication, Journal in Urban and Regional Planning (JURP). Prof. Marius Venter, Director: CENLED and PASCAL (Africa), received a certificate of appreciation and an Honorary International Fellowship from the Centre for Neighbourhood Studies in Manila. He was honoured for his expertise, contribution, and dedication in Neighbourhood Science in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. Teaching The module Urban and Financial Economics was taught as part of the Masters’s of the Engineering and Built Department. Conferences The following conference presentations were done: Empowering Communities: A Case Study of Sustainable Solutions to Address Load Shedding in South Africa. Paper presented at the International Conference in Information Technology & Education (ICITED 2024) July 11-13, 2024. Recife, Brazil. The impact of unsustainable environmental practices on local economic development (LED): The case of the Hartbeespoort Dam region. Presented at 2024 Mbali International Dr Chane de Bruyn visiting Brazil: From left to right: Prof Seyfettin Erdogan; Prof Rahmi Deniz Ozbay; Assoc Prof Sema Yilmaz; Dr Chane de Bruyn; Prof Luis Loures
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