Acceptance of Terms and Conditions
These terms and conditions constitute a legally binding agreement between you and the University of the Free State (UFS). By accessing, browsing, and/or using this website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions as may be amended from time to time. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, you must promptly exit the website, as further use will automatically bind you to these terms and conditions.
Definitions
The following definitions are used in these terms and conditions and will apply unless the context determines otherwise:
'Content' means any functions, facilities, material, information or services as found or embedded in a website and any reference to 'Content' shall mean one or more or all of the abovementioned as required by the context.
'Data Message' means a data message as defined in terms of the ECT Act.
'ECT Act' means the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002, available from http://www.polity.org.za/pdf/ElectronicCommunications.pdf
'RIC Act' means the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act 70 of 2002, available from http://www.polity.org.za/pdf/RegOfInterOfCommAct70/pdf
'UFS' means an education institution duly established under the Higher Education Act No 101 of 1997.
'Website' means the website of the UFS located at www.ufs.ac.za and all other registered UFS domain, and includes any part or element thereof (including the content).
'User(s)' mean any person who enters or uses the website, notwithstanding the fact that such a person only visited the home page of the website.
Use and Licence
The purpose of this website is to provide users with general information regarding the UFS, the services and educational opportunities it provides, and to facilitate the management of UFS stakeholder relations. Users may only use this website for these and other legal purposes. The UFS hereby grants the user a personal, non-transferable licence to view, download, and print the content of this website.
Limitations on Use
The licence granted to the user as contemplated above, shall be subject to the following:
- The content of the website may only be used for private, personal, educational and/or non-commercial purposes.
- Content so obtained by the user may not be sold, resold, transmitted or otherwise made available or disseminated in any manner via any media to any third parties, unless prior written consent of the UFS has been obtained.
- The following copyright notice should appear on all copies of the content of this website: © Copyright 2006, The University of the Free State, Nelson Mandela Drive, Bloemfontein, 9301, South Africa. All rights reserved.
- The UFS reserves the right to terminate or cancel the licence without providing any reasons.
- The licence granted to a user will automatically terminate if a user breaches these terms and conditions.
- Upon termination of the licence, a user must immediately destroy any content which the user has printed and/or downloaded from this website.
- The user may not delete or change any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices, or distort or otherwise modify the proprietary information contained in the content in a manner that may be prejudicial to the UFS.
- The UFS may limit the user’s access to any part of this website without notice to the user.
- Email addresses, names, telephone numbers, and fax numbers published on this website may not be incorporated into any database use for electronic marketing or similar purposes. No permission is given or should be implied that information on this website may be used to communicate unsolicited communications to the UFS and all rights detailed in section 45 of the ECT Act are reserved.
- The content of this website is intended for general information purposes only and is not intended to serve as financial, legal or other advice, and should not be regarded as professional advice or the official opinion or views of the UFS.
Disclaimers
The UFS has used reasonable endeavours to ensure that the content posted on this website is correct at the time of posting. However, the UFS makes no representation and gives no warranty, either express or implied, with respect to the accuracy, suitability or the completeness of content provided on the website for any purpose whatsoever. The user acknowledges and agrees that all the content on this website is provided 'as is' and has not been compiled to meet individual needs. No reliance should therefore be made by any user on the content so posted, and the user should independently verify the accuracy, suitability, and completeness of the content.
The UFS makes no representation or warranties, whether express or implied, that the content or technologies available from this website or access to this website will be free from errors or omissions or that the service will be 100% uninterrupted and secure, that defects will be corrected or that this website and/or the server that makes it available to the user, is free of viruses, infections, bugs or the like. Users are encouraged to report any possible malfunctions and errors.
Limitation of Liability
The user acknowledges and agrees that the UFS or any of its suppliers or service providers shall not be liable for, and hereby indemnify the UFS from and against any losses, liability, costs or damage of whatsoever nature suffered or incurred by a user or any other person arising out of or in connection with the use, inability to use or unavailability of the website, any content available from this website or reliance upon any content contained in or omitted from this website or other linked websites, whether through negligence or otherwise.
Notwithstanding any term or condition contained herein, the user or any other person shall not be entitled to institute any delictual, contractual or other claim against the UFS for any indirect or consequential losses or damages (including without limitation, loss of profit, loss of use, loss of production, loss of business, or loss of business opportunity) due to any cause whatsoever related to or arising from the use of this website or other linked websites.
Intellectual Property Rights
All intellectual property on this website, including without limitation; the content, trademarks, logos, branding, domain names, patents, design elements, software, databases, text, graphics, icons, and hyperlinks are the sole and exclusive property of or are licensed to the UFS. Subject to the rights licensed to the user herein, the user undertakes not to use, duplicate, copy, reproduce, redistribute, disseminate, adapt display, alter, reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile, transcribe, store in a retrieval system, translate into any language or computer language, retransmit in any form or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photo reproduction, recordation or otherwise), or otherwise deal with such intellectual property viewed, downloaded or otherwise retrieved from this website, without the prior written consent of the UFS.
All rights not expressly granted in terms of these terms and conditions are reserved. Any use of the UFS's proprietary information by a user otherwise than expressly authorised in terms hereof may violate intellectual property laws and other regulations and statutes and be liable for criminal prosecution and/or civil liability.
Links from the Website
This website may contain links to other websites operated by parties other than the UFS. The user is advised to use caution and discretion when searching or accessing such links. Links from this website are provided as a service for the convenience of the users of this website. As the UFS has no control over such websites, the user acknowledges and agrees that the UFS will not be liable for any content on or available from such websites. In providing such links, the UFS does not in any way, expressly or implicitly, endorse or accept the linked websites or the respective content thereof. The UFS gives no warranty or guarantee and makes no representation in respect of such linked website. The user further acknowledges and agrees that the UFS shall not be liable, whether directly or indirectly, and hereby indemnifies the UFS from and against any and all damage or loss caused or sustained by or alleged to be caused or sustained by the user, in connection with the use, inability to use or reliance on the content available on such linked websites.
Linking to the Website and Framing
The UFS should be notified in advance of any links to its website from external websites and reserves the right to disable any unauthorised links. Deep linking to and framing of pages and content on this website are prohibited.
Search Technologies
Apart from bona fide search engine operators and the use of the search facility provided on the website by users, the user may not use or attempt to use any technology or applications (including web crawlers or web spiders) to search or copy content from the website for any purposes, without the prior written consent of the UFS.
Security
In terms of section 86 of the ECT Act it is a criminal offence to gain unauthorised access to any restricted areas of this website or to otherwise interfere with the proper functioning thereof.
Software and Equipment
It is the responsibility of the user to acquire and maintain at the user's own expense the computer hardware, software, communication lines, and internet access accounts required to access the internet and this website and/or to download content from this website.
Removal and correction of Content
The user is encouraged to report inaccurate, illegal, infringing, and/or harmful content available on this website to the UFS, and the UFS undertakes to correct and/or remove such content or any part thereof if such content on reasonable grounds prove to be inaccurate, illegal, infringing, and/or harmful.
Amendments
The UFS reserves the right in its sole and absolute discretion to temporarily or permanently modify, amend, change or discontinue the website or any part thereof on a periodical basis, without prior notice. It is the user’s responsibility to continually stay abreast with the changes to these terms and conditions. The user’s continued use of this website after the terms and condition have been changed indicates a user's acceptance of the new terms and conditions.
Agreement in terms of section 21 of the ECT Act
The user shall be bound to these terms and conditions and such agreement is concluded in Bloemfontein (South Africa) at the time the user enters the website for the first time.
Data messages addressed by the user to the UFS shall only be deemed to have been received if and when responded to. An auto-reply shall not constitute such a response.
No content provided on this website shall be deemed to constitute an offer to the user or any other person.
No agreements shall be concluded merely by the sending of data messages to or from the UFS or any employee or student of the UFS.
Interception of Communications
Subject to the provisions of the RIC Act, the user agrees to the UFS’s right to intercept, block, filter, read, delete, disclose, and use all communications sent or posted by the user to this website or the employees of the UFS. The user agrees and acknowledges that this agreement constitutes the written consent required in terms of the ECT Act and the RIC Act.
Jurisdiction and Governing Law
This site is created, hosted, maintained, and controlled in the Republic of South Africa and as such the laws of the Republic of South Africa and the jurisdiction of the South African Courts govern this agreement and the use or inability to use this website.
Severability
These terms and conditions are severable and if any provision is found to be defective or unenforceable for any reason by any competent court or arbitrator, the remaining provisions shall be of full force and effect.
Entire Agreement
These terms and conditions contains the entire agreement between the user and the UFS concerning the subject matter hereof and no terms, conditions, warranties or representations whatever apart from those contained in these terms and conditions have been made.
Contact Information
Kindly direct any queries, comments, and authorisation requests to the UFS webmaster at webmaster@ufs.ac.za