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10 October 2018 | Story UFS | Photo Leonie Bolleurs
Two from Kovsies win Agricultural Student of the Year competition
The competition was an opportunity to force yourself out of your comfort zone and to benchmark yourself against students from other universities. Chéri-Lynn Steyn is pictured here with Mario van den Heever, winner of the Animal Science category of the competition.
This year, two Kovsies won the Old Mutual and Plaas Media Agricultural Student of the Year titles. Chéri-Lynn  Steyn was named the best Agricultural Economics student, and Mario van den Heever was the best Animal Science student. 

Chéri-Lynn  is currently doing her final year of BScAgric in Animal Science and Agricultural Economics. After obtaining her master’s degree, she would like to write modelling programmes for livestock, either for feeding pens or grazing systems. “This is something which fascinates me,” said Cheri-Lynn.

On obtaining his master’s, Mario (currently a final-year student) would like to follow the entrepreneurial route. After winning the competition, he believes that his chosen study field was the right career for him.

The main objective of the competition was to encourage students to pursue careers in an agricultural field. Students are therefore motivated to critically reflect on the major issues within the agricultural sector.

Strong competition

Students from the agricultural faculties of the University of the Free State, the University of Pretoria, Stellenbosch University, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal participated in the competition. 

Among others, they had to submit an essay of 5 000 words on a prescribed topic. Following this, a semi-final was held at each university during which the students had to present their essays and the best student in each of the subject fields for that particular university was chosen. The students competed in the categories Agricultural Economics, Animal Science, and Crop Production. 

Great opportunity for benchmarking

In Agricultural Economics – the category in which Chéri-Lynn  was named the winner – the topic of land expropriation without compensation was investigated, and the question was put whether South Africa would derive any socio-economic benefit from the proposed expropriation.

In Animal Science – which was won by Mario – students had to investigate the South African meat classification system. The question which was asked was whether the current system could be reformed to meet the needs of modern meat consumers in terms of meat quality and whether an international grading system should be adopted.

The Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the UFS, Dr Frikkie Maré, said he was very proud of the students. Both of them are currently research assistants in the department.

“The UFS prepares its students very well for the workplace. There are many opportunities to get exposure in the industry; we have almost every week someone from a well-known company to talk to us as students, or even a course, a congress or a farmer’s day that we have to attend,” said Chéri-Lynn .

News Archive

Teacher professionalism and status under Commonwealth radar
2010-03-26

 
From the left are: Ms Simone De Cormarmond, Chairperson: Commonwealth Foundation; Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, University of the Free State (UFS); Mr Samuel Isaacs, CEO: SAQA; and Dr Carol Anne Spreen, Lecturer at the University of Maryland, USA).
Photo: Ian van Straaten


International delegates attending the 5th Annual Commonwealth Teacher Research Symposium held at the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein this week unanimously agreed that more research still had to be done on issues of recognition, registration and standards affecting teachers and teaching across Commonwealth countries.

This two-day gathering of researchers, officials and representatives of regional international organisations and higher education institutions agreed that issues of teacher migration, the professionalism of teachers, teacher preparation and the use of teaching standards, as well as the comparability and recognition of teacher qualifications should be further researched.

The delegates agreed on the following based on the research and data that were presented and shared with all the participants:

Teacher migration is recognised as an increasing global phenomenon that requires ongoing research in the Commonwealth.
Recognising that inequalities and differences within and across Commonwealth countries exist, and considering that fair and ethical treatment in the international recruitment of teachers is an important cornerstone of the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol.

Teacher training, the recognition of teacher qualifications, the professional registration of teachers and the development of professional teacher standards should be actively encouraged through ongoing pan-Commonwealth research.

An increased acknowledgement of the role of the professionalisation of teachers through an improved understanding of teacher qualifications and standards.
There should be a specific research focus on teacher preparation and the use of teaching standards.

An increased comparability and recognition of teacher qualifications across Commonwealth countries should be actively encouraged.
Advocacy of teachers’ rights, effective protection of the vulnerable teacher, and appropriate strategies should be promoted to uplift the status of teachers and teaching as a profession.

The Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol, amongst other things, aims to balance the rights of teachers to migrate internationally against the need to protect the integrity of national education systems, and to prevent the exploitation of the scarce human resources of poor countries.

Delivering his keynote address at the symposium, the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, decried the quality of professional qualifications in South Africa.

“We have become very good at manufacturing outcomes. We actually have become very good at giving an impression of having achieved particular outcomes without having achieved them at all,” he said.
“So what does it mean to talk about outcomes in an unequal country with unequal resources? What does it mean to talk about qualifications when we do not trust the outcomes?”

He suggested that the teaching profession should be subjected to a peer review mechanism and that the practice of setting minimum standards should be dealt away with because it results in minimum outcomes.

Dr Carol Anne Spreen, lecturer at the University of Maryland in the USA, proposed that countries should improve the quality of their own teachers instead of importing teachers from other countries.

The research symposium was organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and hosted by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the UFS.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za  
26 March 2010

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