The 2015 recipient of the CGW Schumann medal for the best postgraduate student in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at Stellenbosch University passed her honours degree in Accounting with a mark of 85% last year.
Over the course of four years (undergraduate and postgraduate) Ms Pia Lourens (23), a trainee accountant doing her articles at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in Paarl, passed all her subjects with distinction. In January 2015 she passed the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants' Initial Test of Competence (ITC) cum laude and achieved fourth place overall in South Africa.
Prof Pieter von Wielligh from the School of Accountancy described Ms Lourens as one of the "most academically gifted students to study in the School of Accountancy in recent years.
"Her marks for the postgraduate course are truly remarkable, especially when you compare it to the average performance of students in the programme," he added.
Prof Stan du Plessis, Dean of the Faculty, presented the medal to Ms Lourens at a function held in Stellenbosch on Monday 21 September. The medal is named after the Faculty's first dean and has been awarded annually since 1986.
Her mother, Mrs Louise Bailey, and fiancé Dihan Steyn also attended the function.
Ms Lourens, who was born and raised in Paarl and matriculated from Paarl Girls High in 2010, took people's warning that the first year of university and her course was going to be very hard so seriously that she focused all her attention on her studies from the very start. As PWC bursary recipient and Moshal Scholar she regarded it as her responsibility to do well.
A combination of time management and self-discipline was and still is her recipe for success: "I would work out a realistic timetable and keep to it. I put in many hours during the week so that I could rest over weekends."
There wasn't much time for rest during her postgraduate course in 2014, but she believed that she would benefit in the long run if she was willing to sacrifice one year.
Her effort during her undergraduate degree paid off. She had laid a strong knowledge foundation and she believes this contributed to her success in the challenging postgraduate programme.
"I was very surprised when I heard I was the recipient of this medal and very grateful for the acknowledgement, but I must also add: The Lord has been very good to me," she said.
She added jokingly that if her fiancé, whom she met while they were still at school, was able to put up with her during the past four years, he should be able to do it for the rest of his life.
- On the photo are (f.l.t.r.) Prof Stan du Plessis, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Schumann medal winner Ms Pia Lourens, and Prof Pierre Olivier, Director of the School of Accountancy.
