Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
22 February 2018 Photo Supplied
Tennis team countrys fourth-best
The Kovsies first tennis team is from left Cornelius Rall, Lienke de Kock, Reze Opperman and Arne Nel (captain).

The first tennis team of the University of the Free State (UFS) obtained a respectable fourth place at the Top Guns Club event that finished at Sun City on Monday 19 February 2018.

It was the first time the tournament was held where all the provincial tennis champs competed for the honours as national club champions.

The Kovsie team was represented by Cornelius Rall, Lienke de Kock, Reze Opperman and Arne Nel. Arne a veteran who has played for the first team for six years, led the team. They played as men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles with optional rotation at the end of each set.

The round robin matches consisted out of three full short sets. Thus, the first team to four games, by a margin of two would win the set.

Student crown to defend
The Free State students topped their pool with three wins from three encounters.

Victories came against Lapésa Tennis Club of the Northern Cape, Wesbank from Eden and Cradock from Eastern Province, all by 3-0.

It set up an encounter with Camps Bay from the Western Cape in the semi-finals which the Kovsies lost by 1-2.

In the play-off for third and fourth place the students came unstuck against Marks Park Tennis Club from Gauteng Central.

The Kovsies will next be in action from 13 to 16 April 2018 again in Sun City in a university challenge tournament which they have won for the previous two years.

They boast an outstanding record in student competitions, having won the University Sport South Africa (Ussa) the last eight years consecutively.

News Archive

UFS appoints top academic
2010-05-13

 
Prof. Kwandiwe Kondlo


The University of the Free State (UFS) has acquired the services of a well-known political analyst, Prof. Kwandiwe Kondlo, as a Senior Professor in the university’s Centre for Africa Studies (CAS).

Prof. Kondlo, who worked for the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) prior to this permanent appointment, is an accomplished researcher and a well-heeled scholar in issues of transitional democracies, governance and social justice.

“I joined this university particularly because of its difficult history and what I have observed to be a sincere orientation to transform,” he said.

“I think that under the leadership of Prof. Jonathan Jansen (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS) and his team we are going to see a very interesting rebirth of the University of the Free State. And some of us who believe in ideas of reconciliation in negotiated democracies as part of nation formation actually feel we should throw the best we have into the transformation process and support this great guy.”

“I see my appointment as part of the excellence aspect of the transformation journey because the UFS, even though it does good work in certain areas, is not highly rated in terms of academic excellence and publications. That is why I was glad to be appointed to make a humble contribution,” he said.

“I think it is going to be useful to the UFS to have more people of high academic standing because the idea to improve scholarship is very central and of course shifts the focus to scholarly discourse. Let scholarly excellence reclaim the centre of the debate as the leadership deal with legacy issues and genuine transformation.”

“Let us see academics from this institution stand up to articulate key issues that are relevant to state formations and transformation in the country. Let us debate our role as academics in supporting the consolidation of our young democracy”

Prof. Kondlo sees his key role within the CAS as improving research output.

“In other words, I see myself as leading the way in the generation of journal articles, books and also national and international seminars,” he explained.

He said a lot of work still needed to be done, though, to profile the CAS nationally and on the continent as it was still a new initiative and thus relatively unknown.

“We will need to be very innovative in terms of research initiatives and identification of research associates in order to profile the work of the Centre,” he said.

“I think the UFS will claim its seat in the greater African academic family by virtue of the quality of its products. We do not want to re-invent the wheel; we want to come up with products that are unique and in that way help this university to claim its rightful position within the greater African academic family.”

Prof. Kondlo has also worked for, amongst others, the Department of Land Affairs, the National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Chamber of Commerce, as well as being involved with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za  
13 May 2010
 

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept