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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

Q and A with Prof Hussein Solomon on ‘Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Africa’
2015-05-29

 

Political Science lecturer, Prof Hussein Solomon, has launched his latest book, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Africa: fighting insurgency from Al Shabaab, Ansar Dine and Boko Haram, on Wednesday 26 May 2015 at the UFS.

In his book, Solomon talks about the growing terrorist threat in Africa, with the likes of Al Shabaab, Ansar Dine, and Boko Haram exploiting Africa's vulnerabilities to expand their operations. Explaining both the limitations of current counter-terrorist strategies and possible future improvements, this timely study can be appreciated by scholars and practitioners alike.

Q: If you speak of Al Shabaab, Ansar Dine, and Boko Haram expanding operations, do you see possibilities for their expansion even into South Africa, or is expansion mainly focused on northern African countries?
 
A: All three movements are operating out of their respective countries. Al Shabaab has attacked Kenya and Uganda and tried to attack the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa. So yes, there is a danger that they are here and, more importantly, newer groups like ISIS are recruiting in SA already.
 
Q: If the traditional military response is ineffective, what would be a better approach then?
 
A: What is important is that the force of arms needs to complement the force of ideas. What is being waged is an ideological battle, and, just as the West defeated Communism ideologically in the Cold War, we need to defeat radical Islamism ideologically. In addition, the military response needs to complement the governance and development responses.
 
Q: External players like the US have insufficient knowledge of the context, what would be the knowledge about context necessary for anyone concerned about the terror problem in Africa?
 
A: Allow me to give you some examples. The US trains African militaries to fight terrorist groups, but, when they return to their countries, they stage a coup and topple the civilian government. The US does not seem to understand that arming a predatory military and training them makes them more predatory and brutal, which results in civilians being recruited by terrorists, as happened in Mali. Similarly, the US sent arms to the Somali government, and members of that government sold those arms to Al Shabaab terrorists, the very people they were supposed to fight. So the Americans do not understand the criminalisation of the African state, which undermines good governance and promotes terrorism.

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