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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

Stanford University hosts book launch for UFS Prestige Scholar
2015-12-14

Dr Christian Williams, a member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme, had his book launched by Stanford University. The book called National Liberation in Postcolonial Southern Africa: A Historical Ethnography of SWAPO’s Exile Camps will be available in South Africa early in 2016.
Photo: Sonia Small

A launch for the much-anticipated book by Dr Christian Williams from the University of the Free State (UFS) was sponsored by the Humanities Center and the Center for African Studies of Stanford University in the USA, among others.

The launch of the book, National Liberation in Postcolonial Southern Africa: A Historical Ethnography of SWAPO’s Exile Camps, coincided with the 40th anniversary of Angola’s independence.

The book was published by Cambridge University Press in September 2015, and the launch at Stanford was on 16 November 2015.

This groundbreaking study, which will be available in South Africa early next year, has already been lauded for its invaluable contribution and the depth of its scholarship. The author is a senior lecturer in the Department of Anthropology of the UFS, and member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP). He is a former Fulbright scholar, and holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan in History and Anthropology.

National Liberation in Postcolonial Southern Africa follows members of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) through three decades of exile in Tanzania, Zambia, and Angola.

It highlights how different Namibians experienced exile, as well as the tensions that developed within SWAPO as Namibians encountered one another while officials asserted their power and protected their interests.

It also follows the return of Namibians who lived in exile to post-colonial Namibia, examining the extent to which divisions and hierarchies that emerged in the camps still continue to shape Namibians today.

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