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15 March 2018 Photo Thabo Kessah
Qwaqwa Campus welcomes international students
SRC President, Masopha Hlalele, with ISC Executive Committee members Tapiwanashe Mashamba (Deputy Chairperson), Jennifer Ashafa (Chairperson), Mamokete Mokhatla (Secretary), and Kanego Mokgosi (Qwaqwa Campus: Office for International Affairs).

Integration. Diversity. Inclusivity. Academic excellence.

These words featured prominently during the welcoming event for international students on the Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State. The event was organised by the International Student Council (ISC), in collaboration with the Office for International Affairs (OIA).

“The presence of international students is bound to enrich diversity on campus, as it converges vast experiences of the world within one space. It further promotes social integration between South African students and those from the region and beyond,” said Teboho Manchu, Acting Campus Principal.

Opportunity to connect
Teboho further stated that international students provide a critical opportunity for all students to connect, irrespective of their origin.

“Immerse yourselves in the local culture and most importantly, go out there in the communities and connect with the ordinary people,” he added.

In encouraging international students to fully participate in the student programmes on campus, the Acting Campus Vice-Principal: Support Services and Director: Student Affairs, Temba Hlasho, said that Student Affairs supports all students, irrespective of their choice of study or origin.
“To show that we as Student Affairs care, we are going to institute a process in which the SRC Constitution will be reviewed to include international students. This will enable all students to use the positive environment to further thrive in their chosen careers. Participate in all the student activities and leave a mark. Exploit the nature of this campus. Take advantage of its relatively small size and warmth,” he said.

SRC Constitution review
In his response on behalf of the students, the SRC President, Masopha Hlalele, concurred with the campus management that the time was right to review the SRC Constitution to include international students as well as postgraduate students.

“We commit to fast-tracking this process so that the amended constitution can be adopted by the UFS Council in June 2018. In the meantime, continue making your mark on every inch of this campus,” he said.

International students in the audience came from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and India.

News Archive

Ms Oprah Winfrey to receive an honorary doctorate in Education from our university
2011-06-10

 

Ms Oprah Winfrey

Invitation to the public (PDF document)
Invitation to UFS staff and students (PDF document)
Media accreditation (PDF document)
Street closures on 23 and 24 June 2011 (Bloemfontein Campus)
Map from the Bloemfontein Airport to the UFS (PDF document)
Map of the UFS (PDF document)


For more information, please contact:

Tel: 051 401 3000
E-mail: info@ufs.ac.za

Staff and students from our Qwaqwa Campus, please contact:
Dr Elias Malete's office
 


Our university will be awarding an honorary doctorate in Education to the global media icon, philanthropist and public educator, Ms Oprah Winfrey, on its Bloemfontein Campus on Friday, 24 June 2011.

Both the Council and Senate of our university gave strong support to awarding the honorary doctorate to Ms Winfrey.

By awarding the honorary doctorate, we want to recognise Ms Winfrey’s accomplishments and unparalleled work as a global media leader, as well as a philanthropist with vision and foresight in the field of education and development.

“It is a great privilege for us to be the first South African university to honour Ms Winfrey in this way and to be able to recognise a global icon of her stature,” says Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of our university.

Ms Winfrey already holds honorary doctorates from Princeton University as well as Duke University in the United States, among others.

Reaching millions of viewers in more than 150 countries with her award-winning programme, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” she has brought genuine change into the lives of ordinary people during its 25-year run.

Capitalising on the power of the media and her standing as a global icon, Ms Oprah Winfrey has brought a range of critical social and educational matters to the attention of her viewers. In 2000, she expanded her media reach through the successful creation of O, The Oprah Magazine, which then debuted in South Africa in 2002. Earlier this year, she extended her media influence through the launch of a US cable channel, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

Her Book Club has had a dramatic and profound impact on the reading habits of America and those of people in other parts of the world, while her public charity, Oprah’s Angel Network, collected approximately $80 million over a period of twelve years in aid of building schools, women’s shelters and youth centres across the globe.

Through her private charity, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, hundreds of grants have been awarded in support of empowering women, children and families, and The Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program, supports hundreds of university students, in the United States and elsewhere, who are committed to giving back and making a difference in their communities and country.

During a December 2000 visit to former president Nelson Mandela, Ms Winfrey pledged to build a school for girls in South Africa. This gift was to become the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which opened in 2007.

The Academy embodies her strong belief in the power of education to change the future. The Academy provides a unique educational opportunity to over 400 young girls, in Grades 7 through 12, from all over South Africa. These young women come from small rural towns and the big cities, but they share a common background in that they all come from poor families.

Ms Winfrey believes that the Academy can contribute to the development of a new generation of women leaders, deeply imbued with a sense of public service. The Academy stands as a beacon of hope in the educational landscape of this country.

More recently, Ms Winfrey has turned her attention to the failing public-school system in the United States and has brought the impact thereof on the lives of many people in America to the attention of the American public and policy-makers. Even more profoundly, she has highlighted how poor education entrenches poverty and social exclusion. In this sense, Ms Winfrey demonstrates the interconnection between education struggles in the USA and South Africa in powerful ways.

Both the Interim Director of our university’s International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice, Mr John Samuel, and Prof. Jansen have worked for and with Ms Winfrey on matters of education at her school in Johannesburg, and in South Africa more broadly.

The South African public is invited to share in this occasion, and attend the award ceremony. A limited number of tickets will be available to the public from Wednesday, 15 June 2011 to Wednesday, 22 June 2011, and can be purchased from Computicket at an administrative cost of R10 a ticket.


Media Release

11 June 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

 

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