Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
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

UFS to host first leadership conference for Grade 12 learners
2011-04-04

Our university is proud to announce that it will be hosting its very first Leadership Summit for Grade 12 learners.

More than 280 learners from all over South Africa and Namibia have registered to participate in the three-day event, which takes place on our Main Campus from Thursday, 7 April to Saturday, 9 April 2011.
 
Mrs Linda Greyling from UFS Corporate Relations said learners from as far afield as Amanzimtoti in KwaZulu-Natal and Wellington in the Western Cape had applied to learn more about leadership in our country.
 
The goal of the summit is to enable young leaders to develop their leadership capabilities by looking beyond their normal boundaries.
 
Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS,  will address the visitors on leadership while Mr Louie de Necker will speak about conflict resolution. Other highlights include a visit to the Boyden Observatory, picnic suppers, an introduction to residence life, a social evening, and a prize-giving ceremony aimed at learners who distinguished themselves as potential leaders during the three-day visit.
 
Registration for the summit will take place at the Odeion Theatre on our Main Campus on 07 April from 09:00 to 11:00. The proceedings will commence upon completion of registration.


Media Release
1 April 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 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