College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2024 49 Prof Marius Venter visiting Philippines: From left to right: Dr Mario R. Detos Reyes; Dr Rob Mark; Prof Marius Venter; Prof Mike Osborne Conference, August 5-8. Failing Poverty alleviation strategies in the rural areas: A study of the Frances Baard District Municipality in South Africa. Presented at 2024 Mbali International Conference, August 5-8. The implementation of Sustainable Practices in BRICS: Is progress being made? Presented at The VI International Congress on Sustainable Development (SD’24): Banking, Energy, Transition and Green Economies, 2-4 Oct, Istanbul. The impact of budget deficit, quality of governance and financial integrity on economic growth: Quantile via moment approach. Presented at the 13th International Conference on Financial Criminology (ICFC), 22-23 Oct 2024, Binus University, Indonesia. *Best paper award The implementation of Sustainable Practices in Developing Countries. Presented at the World Sustainable Development Teach-In Day, 4th Dec. 2024. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND IMPACT: SOCIETAL IMPACT, SUSTAINABILITY, INNOVATION AND FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (4IR) The fourth and fifth scholarly books in the CENLED scholarly book series were approved during 2024. Ref. No.: BK527: Working title: Establishing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems through Local Economic Development and Ref. No.: BK566, Working title: Local Economic development: Innovation, new technology & green economies USDP Project: The South Africa/ United Kingdom Doctoral Project The Minister of Higher Education and Training approved and signed the ‘Staffing South Africa’s Universities’ Framework (SSAUF) in January 2015. In March 2017, the Minister approved and signed a Ministerial Statement on the Implementation of the University Capacity Development Programme through Effective Management and Utilisation of the University Capacity Development Grant 2018-2020. The main purpose of the project is to support academics and professional staff at South African universities to undertake and complete doctoral studies within a period of four years or less. Secondary purposes are the development of supervisory capacity at universities; and the promotion of capacity development collaborations between universities, including with universities outside of South Africa. CENLED established a doctoral training academy in partnership with the University of Glasgow (u21 partner) and the University of Zululand. In this project, only permanent university staff members were recruited in the following research fields: local development; entrepreneurship; sustainable development goals 1, 2 and 4; education and fourth industrial revolution technologies that will support municipalities in local development to improve the quality of lives of communities. An innovative collaborative supervisory model was developed. In terms of this model the supervisors from the three universities are working in teams, and include an experienced supervisor, co-supervisor and early career researcher or novice supervisor to supervise a team of three to four PhD candidates, to ensure that supervisory capacity is developed. Eight PhD students enrolled in 2024, and the first graduate received a PhD in local economic development. Way forward The Department of Cooperative Governance is in the process to enter into a 5-year collaboration agreement with CENLED to execute capacity building initiatives to strengthen Local Economic Development (LED) implementation in South Africa. An academic collaboration contract was also concluded with the Centro Universitário Integrado in Brazil.
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