The Department of Statistics of the University of Pretoria is proud to host the annual conference of the South African Statistical Association.

The University of Pretoria has a proud tradition of academic excellence and leadership in tertiary education in South Africa and on the continent. This University celebrates its Centenary in 2008 and is planning a prestigious programme of events to commemorate this milestone. The theme of the celebrations "A Century in the Service of Knowledge" spells out the spirit in which the University invites the community to partake.

Probably the first recorded activities to establish a Department of Statistics at a South African University took place at a Commerce Faculty board meeting of the University of Pretoria on 3 June 1920, when Prof AE du Toit inquired about the position of Statistics and Actuarial Science in courses of the faculty. Much development has taken place between 1925, when Prof B de Loor started giving Statistics as part of the mathematics syllabus, and 2008. Now, this Department of Statistics is giving statistics to more than 4000 students annually, through more than 20 full time and as many part time lecturers.

The Conference promises to be a memorable occasion with national as well as international speakers.

Deadline for early bird registration and abstract submission: 29 August 2008.

A special business stream planned: The value of analytics in Business