Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
![]()
RAG has a new
name and format:
ACT—
Active, Civic, Teaching.
The University of the Free State (UFS) is ready to kick off the new year with a bang. Get ready to celebrate the start of university with a cause. RAG, as you know it, has a new name and format: ACT—Active, Civic, Teaching.
You get further if you pull in the same direction, rather than various good-intentioned movements on different routes. In a collective effort, four exciting programmes will take flight, which are listed below:
- Schools project for first-year students: mentored by senior students, groups of first-year students will be assigned to, and participate in local school projects. Students will learn to solve problems and work together in small groups as they collaborate on a specific community project involving primary or secondary schools in the Mangaung region.
- Community gardens: This project will help individual student communities to begin and maintain their own vegetable gardens in order to address food insecurity within their own environment.
- Eco-vehicle project for senior students: The aim of the eco-vehicle project is to create an interdisciplinary experience. Undergraduate senior students from a Student Life College (SLC) can work together to build an eco-vehicle from waste material. The track day, along with creative pit stops, will take place on 16 February 2018, preceding the Community celebration of 17 February 2018.
- Community celebration: To foster good relationships between the UFS and the community, we aim to host an annual celebration that will be open to the broader Mangaung community. The celebrations will kick off on the morning of 17 February 2018 with a business relay and a showcase of the eco-vehicles. The festive day will conclude with an evening music concert.
Keep checking the UFS website for updates about more ACT activities during the month of February.
UFS a much safer place
2011-09-20
|
|
First-year students Chuma Nyiko (left) and Mabasa Teleni next to one of the red poles installed on our Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Amanda Tongha |
Students and staff at our Bloemfontein Campus can feel even safer, with several initiatives being put in place to ensure their safety.
The stop-and-search actions of the recent past, which are being carried out at all the main gates of our Bloemfontein Campus, seem to be successful, since car theft has decreased on the campus. Mr Willie Frankim, Head of Protection Services, says the stop-and-search actions are carried out sporadically, but have a definite effect on crime at the campus. Mr Frankim says only one vehicle has been stolen in the past two months as opposed to the many more that have been stolen in the past.
The message that safety is viewed in a serious light reaches as far as our university’s parking areas and walkways, which are being patrolled by security staff. Mr Frankim says a security officer is placed in all the large parking areas, while other personnel are distributed across the entire campus, especially at key areas, such as at the library and student centre.
Our university also recently installed more than 30 red poles across the entire campus. Each of these red poles is fitted with a panic button by means of which help can be summoned. Should a student or staff member feel unsafe, all they have to do is press the button and cameras, which are installed in the vicinity, will focus on the pole and Protection Services will send assistance. Twenty five of these poles are already working and ten more still have to be activated.
Students and staff can also phone Protection Services on 051 401 2911 if they feel uncomfortable about their safety. They can use this number, for example, to ask a security officer to accompany them to their car.