In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to eradicate hunger and establish good health and well‑being, the Food Environment Office in the UFS Division of Student Affairs has teamed up with academic departments to provide students with healthy food choices through a number of initiatives:

• Financial support is offered to vulnerable students through subsidised meals on campus. Students who are allowed to come to campus for class are obliged to buy a meal‑of‑the‑day from a UFS dining hall, ensuring that they are receiving nutritious meals at reasonable prices. 
• Food parcels received as a supplementary source of nutritious meals are distributed to identified students twice a month. 
• The Food Environment Office collaborates with Kovsie ACT and the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development); vegetable tunnels have been erected on both the Bloemfontein and South campuses. The fresh vegetables produced are distributed to students in the NSH programme, contributing to the fight against hunger and malnutrition.
• The Food Environment Office has also partnered with the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics in the Faculty of Health Sciences, which provides information and support on budgeting, procuring and preparing healthy food, and making better meal choices on a student budget through its Eat&Succeed programme. Material for Eat&Succeed is generated by senior students under the supervision of academic staff. All materials and interventions are tailored to address the specific needs of the UFS students identified by the UFS Food Security Surveys.

With the significant change in the student profile over the past decade, the university has reconfigured the NSH programme from a data-driven perspective – the most vulnerable students are identified to receive support. The criteria for admitting students to the NSH programme have also changed. Now, students are only selected if they are currently enrolled, a first-generation student, and whose annual family income is below R200 000. Moreover, these students from households where a parent or guardian is unemployed, must have a successful study record and not receive any other bursary allowance. Individual circumstances will, however, be considered. 

The programme is supporting 110 students. This number is expected to increase in 2024, with an estimated growth of 200 students on all three UFS campuses.