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24 May 2018 Photo Leonie Bolleurs
UFS and CUT joint SASUF Research Symposium discusses urbanisation
From the left are: Prof Nils Ekelund from Malmö University in Sweden; Buhleng Masake, Honours student in Spatial Planning at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the UFS; Per Schubert from Malmö University in Sweden; and Wanda Verster, UFS Department of of Architecture.
The University of the Free State (UFS) and the Central University of Technology (CUT) recently joined hands with the Swedish University Forum (SASUF). The universities jointly presented at a research seminar with the theme: ‘Urban Rural Dynamic’. The seminar was a side event to the stream ‘Urbanisation in the 21st Century’ of the SASUF Sweden-South Africa Research Week that took place in the same week. This stream of the research week was academically chaired by Wanda Verster from the UFS Department of Architecture. 

SASUF is a collaboration of 30 universities in Sweden and South Africa together with embassies, civil society organisations, funding agencies and ministries in both countries of which CUT and UFS are partners. Other themes of the research week were ‘Climate Change, Natural Resources and Sustainability’; ‘Transforming Higher Education Curricula’; ‘Social Transformation Through Change’; ‘Understanding the Burden of Disease’; and ‘Digital Technologies, Big Data and Cybersecurity’. One of SASUF’s main goals is to connect researchers with funding agencies, industry, ministries, and society in working towards the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Tri-partite between local and international universities
The first day of the event was hosted by the UFS Department of Architecture on the Bloemfontein Campus and was supported by the UFS Department of Urban and Regional Planning. 

The focus of the seminar was on the rural/urban dynamic that secondary cities are frequently experiencing.

Researchers from the UFS, CUT and Malmö University in Sweden presented at the seminar. Stuart-Denoon Stevens, an honours student from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the UFS, presented his research on human settlements. “There are 200 million informal settlements in Africa. In 1994 there were 260 informal settlements in South Africa. Today we have 2600 informal settlements,” said Stewart. 

Take hands, not handouts
He believes that one needs to support what is happening rather than introduce new technology all the time. “Take hands, not handouts,” he said. 

Presenters from the CUT included Dilip Das, who presented on sustainable urban roads and transport, as well as Oke Saheed, who gave an overview of research on sustainable water resources and environment. Prof Nils Ekelund, the head of the Department of Science, Environment and Society at Malmö University in Sweden, presented on perceptions of the ecosystem services concept. He presented together with his colleague, Per Schubert, a lecturer in physical geography. 

The Director: Internationalisation at the UFS, Cornelius Hagenmeier, stressed in his welcoming remark the contribution SASUF and the side event organised by UFS and CUT make toward comprehensive internationalisation and strengthening the local collaboration between the two universities in Bloemfontein. 

News Archive

SRC elections: A first for UFS main campus
2005-08-14

Students on the main campus of the of the University of the Free State (UFS) will this week for the first time vote for the Student Representative Council (SRC) using two voting systems: proportional representation (PR) and first-past-the-post. 

According to the Vice-Rector, Student Affairs, Dr Ezekiel Moraka, this year’s elections are a milestone for the UFS as it will be the first time that the main campus SRC will be elected according to the amended SRC constitution, which was approved by the UFS Council in June 2005.

“It is also a major breakthrough for student governance and transformation of the UFS main campus and constitutes a legitimate basis for the democratic participation of all students at the UFS main campus in the governance of the university,” said Dr Moraka.

The amended constitution of the main campus SRC determines that nine of the 18 SRC members must be elected by means of proportional representation and nine on the basis of an individual, first-past-the-post election.
 
According to Dr Moraka, the introduction of the proportional representation system follows earlier calls by some student formations, notably Sasco and the ANC Youth League, for such a system to be introduced at the UFS main campus in Bloemfontein.

The new main campus SRC constitution is the result of consensus reached during a lengthy negotiation process involving diverse student formations such as Sasco, the ANC Youth League, the Young Communist League, the ACDP, HEREXVII, KovsieAlliance, as well as the democratically elected SRC members of the main campus.

“Independent persons such as Mr Jack Klaas and Mr Kobus van Loggerenberg, a former SRC President, facilitated the negotiation process,” said Dr Moraka.

Students on the main campus in Bloemfontein will vote for a new SRC on Monday 15 August 2005.

SRC elections will also take place on the other two campuses of the UFS, which have their own SRC structures.

Students on the UFS-Vista campus in Bloemfontein will vote for a new SRC on Monday 15 August 2005 and Tuesday 16 August 2005.

At the Qwaqwa campus of the UFS, students will vote for a new SRC on Friday 26 August 2005.

The election processes on all three campuses will be closely monitored by independent electoral bodies. 

After the three campuses have elected their respective SRCs a central SRC will be constituted.  The central SRC will have 12 members made up of delegates of the three campus SRCs, including the presidents of these three SRCs. The main campus will have five representatives, the Qwaqwa campus will have four representatives and the Vista campus will have three representatives.

Main campus voting schedule:
Monday 15 August 2005 from 07:00-21:00.  Ten voting stations will be set up across the campus.  The results will be announced on Tuesday 16 August 2005.

Vista campus voting schedule:
Monday 15 August 2005 and Tuesday 16 August 2005 from 09:00-18:00 in the administration building.  The results will be announced on Wednesday 17 August 2005.
 
Qwaqwa campus voting schedule:
Friday 26 August 2005 from 09:00-18:00 in the Senate Hall.  If there is no objection to the final results, it will be announced on the same day.


Media release

Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel:  (051) 401-2584
   Cell:  083 645 2454
   E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za

14 August 2005
 

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