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04 May 2018 Photo Facebook
Female athletes dominate USSA
From left: Marné Mentz (second), Ts’epang Sello (first) and Tyler Beling (third) were in a class of their own, taking the first three spots in the 1 500m at the University Sport South Africa national championship in Sasolburg.

As expected, the Kovsie athletics team made the University Sport South Africa (USSA) national championship, held over the weekend in Sasolburg, one to remember.

Eight athletes earned gold medals, which is twice as many as last year. The total of 24 medals (including seven silver and nine bronze) is also double the number won in 2017. 

They ended third, just one gold medal below the University of Johannesburg. The female athletes won the women’s competition and contributed to seven of the eight gold medals. The Kovsies dominated the 1 500m and 5 000m events in which they both claimed the first, second and third spots. They even grabbed the fourth and sixth position in the 5 000m in which Kesa Molotsane triumphed, with Tyler Beling second, and Marné Mentz third. Mentz and Beling swapped places in the 1 500m behind Ts’epang Sello. 

Molotsane also won the 10 000m in a record time of 34:49.16 which is a massive three minutes and five seconds quicker than the previous record.

The 800m title also now belongs to Sello. She and Beling won a third medal (bronze) as members of the 4 x 400m relay women’s team. 

The other gold medalist was Lara Orrock (3 000m steeplechase), Lynique Beneke (long jump), Esli Lamley (pole vault) and Rynardt van Rensburg (800m).

All five Kovsies who competed at the CAA Southern Region Youth & Junior Championships that took place over the weekend in Boksburg, won medals. They were Pakiso Mthembu (gold, 5 000m), Michaéla Wright (gold, long jump), Tyler (gold, 1 500m), Tsebo Matsoso (silver, 200m) and Orrock (silver, 3 000m steeplechase).

News Archive

UFS makes history as a second researcher – Prof Melanie Walker – receives NRF A-rating
2014-12-03

Prof Melanie Walker
Photo: Sonia Small

Prof Melanie Walker, Senior Research Professor at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development (CRHED) has received an A1 rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF). This rating acknowledges Prof Walker as a leading international researcher – her work unequivocally recognised by peers world-wide for its high quality and wide impact.

This is the first time in our institution’s history that two A-ratings are awarded simultaneously. Prof Maxim Finkelstein from the Department of Mathematical Statistics also recently received an A2-rating in Probability and Statistics from the NRF.

“Achieving this outstanding rating,” Prof Walker says, “is not just an individual achievement. I have had tremendous personal support and rich intellectual collaborations from wonderful colleagues on the way. The award also recognises the Rector’s project to build a dynamic research culture at UFS.”

Prof Walker has been researching and writing about issues in education and higher education for over 20 years. In particular she is interested in opportunities into, through and beyond education across dimensions of dis/advantage, and how higher education contributes to building a decent society by removing inequalities in its own policies and processes.

Through her focus on capacity building – around the common theme of higher education, human development and social justice – Prof Walker is developing a dynamic cohort of new-generation scholars. Her research group of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows is drawn from countries not only in Africa, but as far afield as Finland, India and Vietnam.

Her networks attract international scholars to the UFS, who contribute to research projects, engage graduate students, and add a considerable contribution to research at our university.

In addition, Prof Walker fulfils a host of roles, which includes:

• Tier One National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in Higher Education and Human Development.
• Vice-President of the international Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA).
• Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
• Honorary professor, University of Nottingham, UK.

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