Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
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

Staff, students, learners and the public opened their hearts during R5 coin-laying ceremony
2012-07-19

Photo: Sonia Small
18 July 2012

Amidst a festive atmosphere on the Red Square in front of the Main Building on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), students, staff, learners and members of the public came together to make their contribution to stop hunger.

In celebration of former president Nelson Mandela’s birthday, the university collected money and food in the form of a coin-laying ceremony, the packing of food parcels, and a message delivered by Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu in aid of the university’s No Student Hungry (NSH) campaign and Bloemfontein Child Welfare.

Representatives from schools in Bloemfontein donated their R5 coins, together with university staff, students, members of the public, and employees of Pick n Pay Hyper. Money collected at the coin-laying ceremony will be shared between NSH and Bloemfontein Child Welfare.

According to Ms Grace Jansen and Ms Carin Buys, patrons of NSH, the more than R42 000 that was collected will be donated to Bloemfontein Child Welfare in an effort by NSH to give back to the community. “We are impressed by the number of people who showed up and by the fact that people opened their hearts and pockets to give,” said Ms Buys.

Thirty employees of Pick n Pay Hyper in Bloemfontein were also present and packed 1 833 food parcels (equivalent to 11 000 meals). This forms part of a Pick n Pay initiative in cooperation with Stop Hunger Now that is being held countrywide today.

In total, 88 000 meals will be distributed in six cities in South Africa today. The 11 000 meals in the Free State have been donated to the university and according to Ms Jansen a social worker at the UFS will distribute it to other needy students. These are students who do not receive bursaries from NSH at the moment. Every food parcel contains rice, dried vegetables, soya, and vitamin and mineral enriched powder.

The university was honoured to have Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu as the speaker at the event. He attended a dialogue in the Series of Dialogue between Science and Society today at the university where he took part in a conversation with Profs. Mark Solms and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela as part of the Global Leadership Summit.

He made a special appearance at the university’s Nelson Mandela Day festivities. His message was simple but inspiring: “Everyone has, just like Madiba, the capacity to change lives. I hope there are people present who can say that they want to improve someone else’s life. You have the chance to make South Africa a country where no one goes to bed hungry. Help us to make South Africa a country where we have compassion for each other and care for each other”.

The UFS would like to thank the following schools for their contributions: 

Grey Kollege Primêre Skool
Grey Kollege
St Michael's School for Girls
Hoërskool Jim Fouché
Hoërskool Fichardtpark
Hoërskool Sentraal
Navalsig High School
HTS Louis Botha
Eunice High School 


 

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept