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14 February 2018 Photo Moeketsi Mogotsi
Countdown to music, art and fun as Kovsie ACT festival approaches
Kovsie students in the process of building their Eco vehicles

The countdown has begun to the Kovsie-ACT music festival that will take place on 17 February 2018 at the Cross Country Fields.

With just a few days left before the main event where students and the community will be wowed by performances from the likes of Prince Kaybee, Jack Parow and Shekinah, students can look forward to the "Social Cohesion" college festivities namely: the West College Project Neon party, East College Graduation party, Central College Yellow party, South College Feballoween party, North College Cowboys and Crooks party, and finally the Kovsie-ACT Fiesta Mexican party.

Each day leading up to the main event, senior on-campus residence students will be working on the building of their various Eco vehicles. Students will be grouped in their designated colleges at the UFS Rag Farm, with the support of the first-years, pending the Eco vehicle race that takes place on Friday 16 February 2018 from 13:00. The ACT office is working towards obtaining sponsors for the overall winners of the race. Their aim is to give the college that wins the race a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend an official international car race, where they will be represented by their residence committees. The following race criteria apply: 

Race criteria:

Drag race

Fastest time taken to cover distance wins

Slalom race

Fastest time taken to complete course minus penalties

Obstacle course

Fastest time taken to complete course wins (Obstacles will be introduced on the day, no preparation)

Three lap-race

No winner, just preparation for final endurance race but drivers must change each lap

Endurance race

Longest distance covered

 

Students will also be working on art projects in the form of a canvas that must be made of waste materials such as plastic, scrap metal and/or sustainable organic materials. The work must be between three and five metres high and two to four metres wide. It should be durable and not perish if it is placed outdoors for a year. It must be accompanied by a manifesto that explains the theme and symbolism of the artwork so that the five colleges can effectively illustrate what is important to them and their community.

First-year students have also been assigned to participate in projects that engage with local secondary schools in the Bloemfontein area. The content of the projects will be directed through a short learning programme that will take place during the course of the year.

The Kovsie ACT team looks forward to the activities at the Rag Farm, and encourages students to attend and take part in their numbers. For more information about Kovsie ACT visit the UFS Rag page or the Ofm official website.

 

News Archive

UFS will increase its volume of quality research
2009-11-25

 
From the left are, seated: Prof. Alice Pell, Vice-Provost: International Relations at Cornell University in the USA and Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS; standing: Prof. Ezekiel Moraka, Vice-Rector: External Relations at the UFS, and Prof. David Wolfe from Cornell University during the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the two institutions.
Photo: Stephen Collett

The University of the Free State (UFS) is taking its research serious and is therefore going to increase its volume of quality research. This includes the production of quality scholarly books in the humanities and social sciences.

This was said by Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, at the launch of the Strategic Academic Cluster initiative of the University on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein last night.

“We are going to produce the kind of research that is associated with scholarships. New models of training, new standards of performance and the introduction of an accelerated Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars’ Programme are among the initiatives that will be introduced. These are all aimed at boosting our university’s research performance,” said Prof. Jansen.

Another strategy to boost research performance at the UFS is the search for 25 leading professors to be appointed across the disciplines, but especially in the social sciences, education and the humanities. These positions have already been advertised and will be phased in with the goal of achieving equity and excellence in the academic and research profile of the UFS. “We’ve had an overwhelming response to the advertisements from local academics as well as those abroad,” said Prof. Jansen.

Each of the six Cluster Directors gave a short presentation of its aim and focus areas during last night’s dinner. These Clusters will in future direct the University’s research endeavours. It represents a move from a fragmented to a more focused approach to research development at the UFS.

The UFS also signed a memorandum of agreement with Cornell University (USA) last night. The guest speaker, Prof. Alice Pell, Vice-Provost: International Relations at Cornell University and member of the UFS’s International Advisory Board, said that, just as the cluster research teams need representatives from different disciplines, universities need diverse partners to recognise their potential fully. Collaborating with partners with ‘fresh eyes’ that have different cultural perspectives, access to different technologies and partners with different priorities can have important implications in the research and education provided by the UFS and Cornell,” she said.

“The interdisciplinary approach adopted by the UFS in developing the Strategic Academic Clusters seems likely to provide students with the intellectual frameworks and research tools that they need to address the problems in society,” she said.

“The most important issues facing the USA and South Africa are similar, namely how to effect the social transformation that will provide equal opportunities to all of our citizens. South Africa, Brazil, India and the USA share strong commitments to democracy, to overcoming our dark histories of religious and racial discrimination and to sustainable economic development without adverse impacts on our planet. We at Cornell are excited about the opportunity to work with the UFS on all of the clusters, but we are particularly looking forward to learning more about social transformation,” said Prof. Pell.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Deputy Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
24 November 2009

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