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30 October 2018 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Peet van Aardt
iCAN contributes to a decolonised curriculum
Some of the student writers who contributed to the anthology that tells their stories in Sesotho, isiXhosa, isiZulu, English and Afrikaans.

How do you transform the higher education curriculum? You involve the exact people the curriculum is intended for. The book, Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN,) illustrates how decolonisation can be achieved through literature   for students by students.

iCAN is an initiative by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of the Free State (UFS) to mentor students in creative and narrative writing. Under the mentorship of Dr Peet van Aardt, project coordinator, and Ace Moloi, author and UFS alumnus, iCAN Volume 1 was recently launched with 47 short stories written by UFS students. 

“The project is a response from the centre for the ever-increasing need for decolonised curricula, steeped in the local cultural perspective of ubuntu,” said Dr Van Aardt.

“This book is an example for how decolonisation can be implemented,” said Prof Francois Stydrom, Senior Director of CTL. The overall aim of the iCAN project is to have the content that materialised from it to be included in the curriculum of first-year students at UFS in the near future.

Book provides multiple voices

Starting in May 2018, CTL presented a series of creative writing workshops on all three of the UFS campuses. “It’s a medium that allows a diverse range of students to express their views and develop their voices as writers,” said Prof Strydom.  

It is a form of empowerment, to pass the baton to students to improve the UFS curriculum by writing and publishing their own stories, thereby contributing to larger bodies of knowledge through their lived experiences.

“I believe we as a university need to enable students so that they move away from just being users to becoming contributors to the curriculum,” Dr van Aardt concluded. 

News Archive

Splendid Summer Graduation concludes 2014 ceremonies
2014-12-11

  • Photo Gallery Afternoon session;  Morning session
  • YouTube

On Thursday 11 December 2014, the university awarded a total of 392 qualifications during our Summer Graduation Ceremony in the Callie Human Centre on the Bloemfontein Campus. Of these, 225 were awarded to graduates from the Faculty of Health Sciences, while 134 master’s degrees and 33 PhDs were awarded in the other six faculties. Another 74 diplomas and 56 certificates were also awarded in the School for Open Learning.

Well-known radio personality, Redi Thlabi, and acclaimed cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Susan Vosloo, encouraged and inspired the graduates during the two ceremonies on the day.

During the morning session, Thlabi imparted some of the valuable lessons she learned in her personal life as well as in her career. She encouraged graduates to change the script of our country for future generations, to be mindful of others and to find meaning in whatever you do.

“Those who have a platform, a voice and an education have the power to help others further on their journey,” Thlabi said. “I believe we are living in an exciting time – a time to leave a legacy behind, a time to make a mark in this world.”

Graduates from the Faculty of Health Sciences and the School for Open Learning were addressed by Dr Vosloo during the second ceremony.

Dr Vosloo often referred to the success of transformation at our university and added that few successes are achieved without adversity. She encouraged the afternoon’s graduates to become professionals with a high sense of dignity, accountability and transparency in their workplace.

“Remember that you and you alone are able to decide what your approach will be in anything in life from here on forward,” she said.

Dr Vosloo, a Kovsie alumnus, graduated in 1980. Shortly after this, she became the first female heart surgeon in South Africa. She is currently in independent private practice at Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital, having also worked from 1998 untill 2012 at the Vincent Pallotti Hospital in Cape Town.

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