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07 March 2018 Photo Xolisa Mnukwa
UJ to benchmark Kovsie CUADS operational services
UJ Disability unit delegates Alban Burke and Leila Abdul Gafoor join UFS CUADS Assistant director, Martie Miranda and Dean of Student Affairs, Pura Mgolombane for a discussion on the operative aspects of the UFS Center for Universal Access and Disability Support.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) Psychological Services and Career Development Department is looking to enhance the quality of services provided by its disability unit. Team leader of the Psychological Services division at (PsCAD): Leila Abdul Gafoor said University of the Free State (UFS) was on its list of targets when it boiled down to possibly benchmarking and sharing the Center for universal access and disability support (CUADS) service structures and operational procedures that could aid a more pleasant and complete university experience for students with disabilities at UJ.

Director of PysCad at UJ, Alban Burke, considered one of the strengths of his department to be its ability to serve as a hot-stop for their students with academic opportunities that could assist them financially, psychologically, intellectually and perceptually. He did, however, point out that one of their main challenges lies in their difficulty sourcing capital and resources that are exclusive to the disability unit within his department which is very expensive to operate and sustain. 

Dean of Student Affairs, Pura Mgolombane, started his response to PysCad delegates with the question: “Which strategies should be operationalised in order to cater for the core needs of students?” He said the strategy should inform the operational structure that a university employs. Thus, the strategy should centre universal access as the Integrated Transformation Plan (ITP) intended it, and in that way the structure would need to support the notion of universal access; and therefore address student needs. The UFS is currently undergoing a phase of integrated transformation which Mgolombane explained which among other things, demanded avid preparations towards ensuring that universal access was prioritised. 

Martie Miranda, Assistant Director for CUADS, clarifies that CUADS considered repositioning its office beneath academics due to a majority of their occupational services comprising of academic support for students with disabilities. However, due to Student Affairs’ newly developed “humanising strategic model” the centre remained put as they are being afforded efficient opportunity to change mindsets, and create an institutional culture which endorses the humanising of students with disabilities as well.

Mgolombane said in order for an institution to deliver sufficient universal access, students’ needs and experiences had to be considered and prioritised from conception. The planning and future implementation should not serve as an afterthought when allocating financial, human, physical and other resources to the various university environments. 

News Archive

Alcinda Honwana: Youth Protests Main Mechanism against Regime
2015-05-25

Prof Alcinda Honwana

"Enough is Enough!": Youth Protests and Political Change in Africa (speech) 

The Centre for Africa Studies at the UFS hosted an interdisciplinary project on the Bloemfontein Campus from 20-22 May 2015.

The project, entitled Contemporary Modes of Othering: Its Perpetuation and Resistance, looked at different perspectives, representations, and art forms of otherness, how it is perceived, and how it is resisted.

The annual Africa Day Memorial Lecture was held on Thursday evening 21 May 2015 at the CR Swart Auditorium. Guest speaker Prof Alcinda Honwana addressed the subject of ‘Youth Protests and Political Change in Africa’.

“Youth now seem able to display what they don’t want, rather than what they do want,” Honwana said in her opening remarks. “Thus, we see the young driven to the streets to protest against regimes.”
 
Honwana shed some light on recent examples of youth protests in Africa that have enjoyed global attention. Looking at the protests in Tunisia (2010), Egypt (2011), Senegal (2012), and Burkina Faso (2014), it is clear that these events in northern and western Africa have inspired others globally. Yet, Honwana stated that, despite these protests, no social economic change has been seen, and has left dissatisfaction with new governments as well.

“Once regimes fall… young activists find themselves more divided, it seems…

“Which leaves the question: Will street protests remain young people’s main mechanism to avert those in power?”

Background on Prof Alcinda Honwana:

Alcinda Honwana is currently Visiting Professor of Anthropology and International Development at the Open University (UK). She was chair in International Development at the Open University, and taught Anthropology at the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and the New School for Social Research in New York. She was programme director at the Social Science Research Council in New York, and worked for the United Nations Office for Children and Armed Conflict. Honwana has written extensively on the links between political conflict and culture, and on the impact of violent conflict on children and youth, conducting research in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Colombia, and Sri Lanka. Her latest work has been on youth and social change in Africa, focusing on Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia.

Honwana’s latest books include:

• Youth and Revolution in Tunisia (2013); 
• Time of Youth: Work, Social Change, and Politics in Africa (2012);
• Child Soldiers in Africa (2006);
• Makers and Breakers: Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa (2005, co-edited).

Honwana was awarded the prestigious Prince Claus Chair for Development and Equity in the Netherlands in 2007.

 

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