Quantity Surveying shines From the leftare: PierreOosthuizen, Prof KKajimo-Shankantund Dr StephanRamabodu PHOTO: IFA TSHISHONGE THE Department of Quantity Surveyingat the University of the Free State (UFS) has much to be proud of. With Professor Kahilu KajimoShakantu as Head of the Department of Quantity Surveying,it is celebrating severalFirsts. For the first time, the department has four academics with PhDs. This includes Prof KajimoShakantu,Shakantu.Dr Stephan Ramabodu, Dr Timothy Froiseand Dr Benita Zulch. It is also the first time that this department has been managed by a woman. The Department of Quantity Surveying also performed well at this year's national Quantity Surveying Conference held in Pretoria, where they walked away with four of the seven awards. The awards were: .Best presenter: Pierre Oosthuizen (lecturer) •.Most innovative presenter: Pierre Oosthuizen(lecturer). Best paper on engineering projects: Prof Kahilu Kajimo-Shakantu • Best academic paper: T Monyane (postgraduate student) and Dr Stephan Ramabodu Oecturer) The South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession (SACQSP) also presented two prestigious life achievement awards. One of these was bestowed on Professor Basie Verster from the UFS for his contribution to quantity surveying since the 1970s. The university is especially proud of Ramabodu,lecturer in the department, who completed his PhD this year. This makes him one of only a few holders of a quantity surveying PhD in the country. He is also registered with the South African Council for Quantity Surveying Professionals. Kajimo-Shakantu said of Ramabodu. "Since 2002, Stephan was appointed as a lecturer in a programme called Grow Your Own Timber at the UFS. Later on, he went to Cape Town to gain some commercial experience, where he worked for Davis Langdon in 2005. In 2008, he returned to the Free State, where he established Ramabodu & Associates. Later on in the same year, he returned to the UFS as a lecturer to complete all the remaining milestones of the Grow Your Own Timber programme.