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24 May 2018

Programme

Thousands of Grade 12 learners, teachers, parents, principals, and members of the broader community are expected to descend on the Qwaqwa Campus on Saturday 26 May 2018 for the annual Open Day.

This year’s programme will ensure that future Kovsies gather as much academic information as possible. Also available in the Rolihlahla Mandela Hall will be all the administrative services, including Financial Aid, Tuition Fees, Housing and Residence Affairs, the Health and Wellness Centre, etc.
 
The programme will start with the first information session in the different faculties from 09:00 to 10:00. The second session will commence at 11:00-12:00. On entering the campus, learners will go to the gazebos in front of the Intsika Building to get the campus map and the programme for the day.

Teachers, principals, and parents are invited to engage with Professor Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor. This programme is scheduled for 12:00-14:00 in E14, Sedibeng Education Building. 

Learners will also have an opportunity to apply for the 2019 academic year. 

News Archive

Cochlear implant changes Magteld's world
2009-11-06

The microphone is ready for Magteld Smith’s (second from the left) first radio interview after the cochlear implant was switched on by Mr Henk Wolmarans (right) of MedEl. With them are, from the left: Ms Vicki Fourie, Deaf Miss SA, Ms Eunika Smith from the SABC and Prof. Jonathan Jansen.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar


Magteld Smith gave her first steps towards the world of the hearing when her cochlear implant was switched on in the Universitas Hospital this week.

A whole team was there to share her joy and disbelief and amazement the moment she could hear noises, voices and conversations. Among them were the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof. Jonathan Jansen, and the acting dean of the Faculty of Heath Sciences at the UFS, Prof. Gert van Zyl.

“I can hear my own voice! I haven’t heard it for a long time. My wish is that every deaf child can get something like this,” she said while prodding Prof. Jansen to speak so that she can hear his voice.

Magteld is working at the university's Centre for Health Systems Research and Development and was deaf since birth. She lost her last bit of hearing due to meningitis last year. Her hearing aids could then not assist her to communicate and a cochlear implant was the only option.

A donation by the Austrian company MedEl made the implant possible. Prof. André Claassen, Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the UFS, says MedEl was also instrumental in the establishment of the implant programme at the Universitas Hospital and sponsored the first five implants at a total cost of R1 million.

Prof. Claassen says 27 implants have already been done here, but it came to an abrupt halt due to a lack of funds. Strong hearing aids are expensive and cochlear implants are even more expensive at R200 000 each. People with hearing disabilities must be identified at an early age as the brain’s ability to learn sound and voice diminishes after the age of three.
 

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