Values

Vision 130 acknowledges the immutable values of Excellence, Innovation and Impact, Accountability, Care, and Social Justice, that shape and inform the UFS culture and provide a framework for our actions and decisions. These are the values that form the bedrock of our institution, and that will continue to be the guiding lights in our quest to deliver quality graduates that are well-equipped and sought after in the world of work.

Excellence: We are committed to pursuing excellence in every aspect of university life. We look at excellence as an idea that is more than a benchmark, more than a goal, more than a distant destination. In the context of the Academic Project, excellence is the foundation of rigour in our scholarship, including the advancement, imparting, and the application of knowledge. It informs our learning and teaching, wider engagement, as well as our management and governance processes.

Innovation and impact: The University’s ultimate goal is to be a University that impactfully supports societal development. We value and encourage creativity and strive to identify, question, and challenge the status quo. Our knowledge will continue to contribute to the development of the Free State, South Africa, and the African continent and to advance global knowledge and understanding.

Accountability: We recognise our obligation towards our students, staff, stakeholders, society in general, and the global knowledge community. To this end, we will be stewards of good governance who are accountable, responsible, and dutiful in our actions. We will be conscientious in our utilisation of the financial and physical resources of the University as well as concerning our impact on the wider environment.

Care: We are committed to creating circumstances that are not only conducive to highquality teaching, learning, and scholarship, but doing this in ways that emphasise the well-being and happiness of the University community. We are therefore committed to caring for ourselves, our fellow humans, and the natural environment. We seek a new citizenship and new ways of belonging to the UFS that are premised on respect, inclusivity, listening, and empathy.

Social Justice: In the pursuit of social justice, we seek to advance the values of human dignity through ethical and transparent institutional responsiveness. We interpret social justice within the South African historical context to entail an emphasis on inclusiveness, the reduction of inequality, and the creation of opportunities and pathways out of poverty and dispossession. Our commitment to social justice is our call to everyone to build on the productive foundations laid by all, and to build new structures in the pursuit of truths and practices that will grant human dignity to everybody.

Sustainability: We commit to ethical and responsible stewardship of all institutional resources, processes, and practices to ensure operational, financial, environmental, and societal sustainability. Further, we aspire to live in harmony with our environment, and this will influence all our choices and decisions.