Each year, the UFS Leadership for Change Programme (L4C) gives first-year students international exposure to top universities throughout the world. The programme centralises around the establishment of a new campus culture of student relations across boundaries.

The selected 2014/2015 group is a dynamic and intellectual bunch who truly embodies excellence from the ranks of our first-years. Thirty-three students were selected from among our Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses. These students are eagerly making preparations and attending workshops to get ready to travel abroad – bound to return with deeper knowledge and greater experience.

The students will be divided into six cohort groups – each group accompanied by a UFS staff member who will serve as a mentor. Each cohort will consist of five to six students who will visit universities on three different continents in January 2015.

These universities, listed by continent, are:

• USA

Cleveland State University
University of Minnesota
University of Vermont

• Europe

Netherlands: Vrije University in Amsterdam
Belgium: University of Antwerp and Ghent University

• Asia

International Christian University in Japan

The programme is one of the flagship interventions of our university that underpins an array of commitments to student development. It is a study abroad/international programme of short duration available to students of all ethnicities. It enables students to personally experience models of integration across lines of culture, colour and language. This leadership development programme focuses on first-years to establish layers of new thinking and engagement among students from diverse backgrounds.

• UFS Leadership for Change 2014/2015 cohort groups