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12 November 2018 Photo Johan Roux
December graduations to conclude the UFS academic year
UFS December graduations: three days and six ceremonies of paying tribute to hard work, persistence, and perseverance.

The University of the Free State (UFS) is looking forward to conferring undergraduate, postgraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees in all faculties during the upcoming end-of-year graduation ceremonies taking place in December 2018.

The UFS Bloemfontein Campus will host inspiring celebrations for graduates and their families in the Callie Human Centre on the dates specified below.
 
For more information about the upcoming ceremonies, visit the graduation home page, where graduating students can also access the graduation frequently-asked questions (FAQs).  Additional enquiries can be directed to graduations@ufs.ac.za
 
Graduation ceremonies for the different faculties will take place on the following dates:

4 December 2018

09:00 - Faculties of Economic and Management Sciences and Education

14:30 - South Campus: Open Distance Learning 

5 December 2018

09:00 - Faculties of the Humanities and Theology and Religion

14:30 - Faculties of Law and Natural and Agricultural Sciences

6 December 2018

09:00 - Faculty of Health Sciences (including School of Nursing)

14:30 - Master's and Doctorate degrees (all faculties)

News Archive

Prof. Iain Benson delivers inaugural lecture in UFS's Faculty of Law
2010-10-27

Prof. Shaun de Freitas (left) of the Faculty of Law at the UFS and Prof. Iain Benson.

Prof. Iain T. Benson delivered his inaugural address as Professor Extraordinary in the Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law in the Faculty of Law at University of the Free State (UFS) faculty last week.

Originally hailing from Canada and currently residing with his family in France, Prof. Benson is an academic with a wealth of experience and expertise in the field of law, especially with regard to the right of conscience and religion. His achievements number many, including being a Senior Associate Counsel at one of Canada’s leading law firms, Miller Thompson LLP; and serving on the Founding Board of the Global Centre for Pluralism. 

Apart from his work on leading cases in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Prof. Benson also has strong ties with the law in South Africa. He is part of the Continuity Committee that is responsible for the major undertaking of drawing up the South African Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms in cooperation with all the major religions in South Africa which, when completed, will be the first use of Section 234 of the South African Constitution.

The title of the inaugural lecture was Living together with Disagreements and the Limits of the Law, which tackled various conscientious and topical issues regarding the complex relationships between the law and religions. Starting off the lecture, Prof. Benson recalled that living together with disagreement is a necessary achievement in free and democratic societies and that differences of belief and opinion should not be resolved by force acceptance of a “one-size fits all” model. Mentioning religion and same-sex marriages, Prof. Benson held these up as issues which reasonable people may disagree on and should hence be respected by the public sphere that is girded round by the law. 

Quoting Sophocles’ Antigone, Prof. Benson noted that tensions between the so-called divine and imminent or state laws as in a non-theocratic state have always been with us. He stressed the importance of a wide respect by the law for civic associations in addition to but particularly in relation to religion which guides citizens views about wrong and right beyond matters that are regulated by law.
 

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