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27 August 2018 Photo Barend Nagel
WomenOfKovsies Prof LenkaBula foresees transformation at UFS
Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement, Prof Puleng LenkaBula, takes the lead in transforming Student Experiences at the UFS.
“It’s important to think about transformation in ways that are responsive to the challenges which students have raised,” said Prof Puleng LenkaBula. She thinks of transformation as constitutive of deliberative processes, actions, reflections, writings, and literary expressions aimed as a response to the ecological, economic, political, and social context and questions which undergird the learning, research, and engagement of UFS students, staff, and stakeholders.

Prof LenkaBula is Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement at the University of the Free State (UFS). 

Committed to knowledge production, novelty, and the advancement of socio-economic development in South Africa, Prof LenkaBula assumes position as work-stream leader for Student Experience in the Integrated Transformation Plan (ITP). The plan aims to identify areas of transformation that the UFS marks to revolutionise and implement in its pursuit of delivering quality graduates who will be able to contest in a global realm of competitors.

Importance of revolutionising Student Experience at the UFS

“My job is to ensure that students flourish academically and are cultivated holistically as human beings who bring embodied knowledge and experiences which will enable them to succeed in life,” detailed Prof LenkaBula. 

She also contributes towards change in the Engaged Scholarship as well as the Names, Symbols and Spaces work streams of the ITP. Prof LenkaBula has been deemed powerful in her ability to traverse disciplinary parameters, research, stakeholder cultivation, and development.

“It is important to navigate symbols and spaces as a co-aspect of Student Experience to enrich the diversity of know-hows at the UFS and map a university that will represent a value-system that prioritises inclusivity and diversity,” urged Prof LenkaBula with reference to the significance of her role in the implementation of the ITP. 
 
ITP deemed an integral mechanism of growth for Kovsies

Ensuring that UFS graduates are locally adept, knowledgeable, active, and globally competitive in imperative areas of interest, highlights the general importance of the ITP for Prof LenkaBula.

The Vice-Rector underlined that the UFS has had historical challenges within its existence which have demonstrated a need for change that promotes dignity for all and respect for the diversity of its people, in an effort to secure social cohesion.

“Open dialogue and participation are mechanisms that the university needs to make use of to engage the past in order to create constructive directions for the future,” said Prof LenkaBula.

She concluded by stating that the UFS is a key global resource, as we live in a state of economic globalisation. “Knowledge is an essential imperative in knowledge-economies that breed skilled labour, and the ability to think critically in order to formulate ideas that will change the world”, said Prof LenkaBula.

News Archive

Getting out of the dark
2015-06-10

 

ESKOM is making daily announcements on the status of the power grid.

Anton Calitz, Electrical Engineer at University Estates, is in continuous contact with Eskom and Centlec in an effort to stay abreast of load shedding.

According to Anton, Eskom has recently - the week of 20 April - been focusing on the evening peak, and has announced STAGE 1 load shedding from 17:00-22:00; thus, the Bloemfontein Campus should be able to continue business as usual during the day, except for Thursdays from 18:00 and, possibly, Fridays from 17:00.

Where can I get more information about load shedding stages?

Apart from Eskom’s webpage, staff can also visit GRID WATCH. Click on "Search", then under "Schedules". Look for "Mangaung Local Municipality", and select "GROUP 4". Save this location. “This can even be loaded onto your mobile device.”

“The time slots can be seen for a couple of days in advance, to allow us to plan around the possibility of load shedding in our daily lives,” said Anton.

Please note: ESKOM can change the STAGE level at any time. Therefore, keep an eye on GRID WATCH and News24.

View the typical seven-day planner for the Bloemfontein Campus (Group 4), which indicates the STAGE 2 and 3 possibilities. Take note that, on some days, the STAGE 2 and 3 time slots are the same.

More load shedding tips: Your IT needs

The UFS Data Centre (Computer Room) is fully serviced by a generator facility, and can function without external power supply for a few days.

The generator servicing the UFS data centre does NOT provide power to the outlying facilities. This implies that all digital equipment at gates, booms, and access points will be shut down until the power is restored to these facilities. “We are now, in collaboration with Nico Janse van Rensburg, in a process to install UPS facilities at these points, which will ensure two to three hours of power supply at these points, even during load shedding,” said Dr Vic Coetzee, Senior Director: ICT Services.

No Wi-Fi will be available, as it is dependent on the power supply to the buildings where it is installed.

All servers are contained in the data centre, and will be kept running by our generators.

How to manage load shedding and your IT needs:

1. Get into the habit of saving your work regularly on computer so that you don’t lose your work/files during load shedding.
2. Back up important data. Keep to a schedule of regular back-up.  Make sure your computer back-ups are safe and recoverable.
3. Keep all electronic devices charged and ready to run on battery power. Keep your cellphone charged: some old-style Telkom landlines will still operate during power outages, but others won't.
4. Remember, when power supply is restored, it sometimes happens that a power surge is sent through the network, which will damage your computer.  Fortunately, laptop computers will not suffer this fate as their power is provided through an external power pack. Often, this power pack will be damaged, but not the laptop itself.
5. It makes good sense to reboot your computer daily, not only in terms of power shedding, but also in terms of updating the drivers, software, etc.
6. Switch off all computers and other electrical equipment at the wall plug overnight and on weekends.
7. Should your IT equipment not switch on after a power outage, log a call with the ICT Services. You can also call them at x2000.

More information, guidelines and contact numbers

 

 

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