Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
31 October 2018 Photo Charl Devenish
PhD students compete in three-minute thesis competition
The ten PhD students who participated in the Three-Minute-Thesis Competition.

Ten Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students from five universities across the country were pitted against one another in the robust finals of the annual national Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, held at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Postgraduate School Assistant Officer, Kamogelo Dithebe, said this is a research-communication competition developed by the University of Queensland, whereby PhD students are given three minutes to present a compelling oration on their thesis and its significance.

The competition challenges students to consolidate their ideas and research discoveries to be presented concisely to a non-specialist audience.

Developed in 2008, enthusiasm for the 3MT concept and its adoption in numerous universities has led to the development of an international competition. Students become eligible to participate in the national competition once they have participated in the competition at institutional level.
 
Dithebe stated that the institutional winner and the runner-up become eligible for representation at national level. Institutions that participated in the 2018 national competition were the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the University of Johannesburg, the University of Cape Town, Durban University of Technology, as well as the hosts, the University of the Free State.

Research on water-leakage problems comes out tops

The University of Cape Town’s Civil Engineering student, Rene Nsanzubuhoro, pipped all his counterparts to walk away with a R16 000 prize as well as a People’s Choice prize of R6 000 – this is where the audience were given ballots to vote for their choice. His topic was: Fighting leakage one pipe at a time

The core focus of his research was leakage in water-pipe systems. This is a major concern to water utilities for several reasons, including loss of a limited resource, pumping energy, revenue loss, and increased health risk as leaks are potential entry points for contaminants if a pressure drop occurs in the system. In the study, a novel device for assessing the condition of water-pipe systems was designed, constructed, and tested.

Research on clean water takes a second spot

The runner-up was a Chemical Engineering student from the University of Johannesburg, Oluwademilade Fayemiyo, who won a prize of R11 000. Her topic was: From wine to water: Searching within for clean water.

Two students from the University of the Free State, Trudie Strauss and Nokuthula Tlalajoe, represented the institution.

Strauss, who is a Mathematical Statistics student, talked about: Babelish Confusion: Finding statistical structure in the diversity of language.

Tlalajoe, a Health Professions Education student, presented the topic: Multiple transition for undergraduate first-year students in the MB CHB programme: Expectations, Experiences, and Emotions.

News Archive

First Global Leadership Summit brings partner universities to our university
2012-05-17

The University of the Free State (UFS) is gearing up for the Global Leadership Summit when students from universities all over the world will visit the UFS. The summit will take place from Sunday 8 July to Friday 20 July 2012. About 180 staff and students from universities in the United States, Asia and Europe are expected to visit the UFS during these two weeks and eminent scholars and politicians have already confirmed their participation. Among them are Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Dr Tim Murithi, Prof. Mark Solms, Fulbright Scholars who were previously tenured at the university, and a number of ambassadors.

Prof. Aldo Stroebel, Director: International Academic Programmes, Office of the Vice-Chancellor, says that our university has increasingly embedded internationalisation in its strategic priorities. The Leadership for Change Programme, jointly hosted by International Affairs and Student Affairs, is a significant step forward in this context. This innovative and unique programme, initiated in 2010, serves as a leadership development programme focused on first-year students. It aims to build layers of new thinking and engagement among students from diverse backgrounds. As part of a year-long engagement, each student spends a period abroad where there is intense exposure to the academic, social, cultural and residential lives of students in other countries. A formal mentor development programme for staff runs concurrently with the initiative.
 
In the 2010 programme, 71 students in various cohorts were placed at nine universities in the USA. Following on the success of this initiative, in 2011, 150 students were hosted at partner universities in the USA, Europe and Japan. The impact of cross-cultural and cross-border experiences on changing and enriching the participants’ minds and attitudes has been manifested in a wide variety of ways at both the UFS and the partner institutions.
 
The Global Leadership Summit, with the theme, “Transcending Boundaries of Global Change Leadership”, is a reciprocal programme of the Leadership for Change initiative. It will focus on international engagements in addressing salient issues around change leadership, diversity and racial reconciliation in Higher Education through critical dialogues between staff and students from all over the world.
 
The programme will be continued during 2013 when 150 students will again be selected for participation and placement abroad.


Media Release
17 May 2012
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: +27(0)51 401 2584
Cell: +27(0)83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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