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25 April 2018 Photo Supplied
UFS Debate Society to compete in upcoming World Championships

The UFS Debate Society is a diverse, cross-boundary team of UFS students who are not strangers to success, and who are exceptionally brilliant at what they do. Before winning the largest open debating competition in Africa in 2018, the team had qualified and competed in the finals for three consecutive years since 2015. The society has now been selected to compete in the Cape Town Open Debating Competition this coming weekend from 27 to 29 April, in a build-up to the World Championships taking place in December 2018.

According to the UFS Debate Society Chairperson, Tshiamo Malatji: “Thinking artistically about debating requires one to make use of creative reasoning, and essentially, lateral thinking is of importance, even in your everyday life conversations, because you will never fundamentally agree with someone who has opinions which are opposed to yours, but you will be able to appreciate where they are coming from.”

The team is also involved in organising dialogues on our Bloemfontein Campus, such as the Student Rights Dialogue, which brings together various stakeholders of the university for a discussion about human rights. They also conduct debating workshops and, together with the Department of Basic Education, function as judges for debates in the broader Bloemfontein community for less advantaged schools in Botshabelo, Thaba Nchu, Tweespruit, and Dewetsdorp.

The Debate Society is set to host a Global Politics Seminar that will analyse and explain the forces that influence international politics, and South Africa's standpoint in the global perspective. This seminar, taking place in October, will focus on the activities of chief global actors, and some of the core crises that can shape students’ understanding of current foreign affairs. The seminar will comprise presentations from knowledgeable local students and Debate Society alumni, which will conclude with a fiery debate by the society on the dynamic and controversial topic of South Africa's future in the international political arena. 

Access to the seminar is reserved for donors who will pledge their support to the society’s journey to the upcoming World Championships. For more information on how to pledge, visit the World Championships Pledge.

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UFS receives a grant of R3 million from the Rockefeller Foundation, USA
2011-01-24

The University of the Free State (UFS) has recently been awarded a grant of R3 million from the Rockefeller Foundation in the USA to engage development evaluation leaders to provide practical assistance to the foundation to better articulate, monitor, evaluate and report on their results and strategies in order to achieve impact.

The grant was secured by the university's Research Development Directorate. It is the first time in 15 years that the Rockefeller Foundation makes a grant to the UFS.
 
The New York-based Rockefeller Foundation focuses on basic survival safeguards, transforming health systems, climate change and environment, urbanisation, and social and economic security in Africa and Asia.
 
Dr Zenda Ofir (Evalnet), an internationally renowned evaluation specialist and affiliated Senior Research Fellow at the UFS, is the project leader. Proffs Frans Swanepoel and Aldo Stroebel from the university will work closely with Dr Ofir and other Rockefeller initiative teams, key grantees and partners, mainly on issues of strengthening food security in Africa.

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