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27 August 2018
Photo Barend Nagel
How do you start living a healthy lifestyle? Arina Engelbrecht, a wellness specialist in the Employee Wellness Division at the University of the Free State (UFS) says it only takes a few changes. Her passion is to motivate people to live a balanced life.
Being active enables a person to live life to the full. “Aim to exercise 150 minutes a week, which equates to 30 minutes five times a week in order to experience health benefits like prevention of lifestyle illnesses, better sleeping patterns, decreasing stress or anxiety and feeling more energetic,” says Engelbrecht.
Some of the initiatives Engelbrecht and her team drive are the Healthy Lifestyle Challenge, Park Runs in Bloemfontein, and the Healthy4Life Pedometer Challenge, which encourage staff members to become more physically active. “Everything we do, think or feel is influenced by what we eat! It is therefore important to eat a balanced diet. Healthy food = quality fuel = good health = sustained energy = peak performance,” she explains.
Pedometer Challenge
In the space of eight weeks 240 staff members from all campuses walked 54 000km as part of the Pedometer Challenge. Engelbrecht and her team mobilised 53 active teams from all three campuses. Three of these teams emerged as the winners as they exceeded the target of 1 300km which is the equivalent of walking to Cape Town. In September 2018 the Challenge is going national as the North-West University competes against UFS.
Celebrating women
This Women’s Month Engelbrecht’s message to women of Kovsies is: “We must start embracing who we are and start believing in ourselves, whether it is in the workplace, in business, or at home.”
Department of Architecture receives unconditional validation
2017-09-08
In the 2017 validation portfolio was the
dissertation: Revealing the Invisible
by Laura-Anne Fox.
Photo: Supplied
Earlier this year the Department of Architecture at the University of the Free State (UFS) received unconditional validation nationally from the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) and internationally from the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA). SACAP aspires towards people-centred architecture for South Africa.
Register as professionals in the industry
The broad aim of the validation session is to safeguard standards in architectural education and for professional registration.
According to Jako Olivier, Programme Director of the Department of Architecture at UFS, unconditional validation sanctions that the three professional-oriented degrees are aligned with national and international education standards. The degrees, BArch, BArch Hons and MArch (Professional), then also meet the prescribed national standards of registration compatible with international standards.
Department proud of calibre students
The validation is effective for five years; from 2017 to 2022.
The department is proud of the calibre of students they guide towards employment in the architectural field. Graduates from the department find employment at leading architectural firms nationally and internationally.