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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

School of Medicine expands to provide quality tuition
2015-04-20

 

The School of Medicine at the University of the Free State (UFS) has recently extended various training platforms to provide continuous quality tuition to students.

Not only does the school boast a world-class dissection hall but now has plans for additional training facilities at two more hospitals.

The new dissection hall was completed in January 2015 with some final finishing touches that will be done shortly. The hall is newly built as the previous dissection hall has been used for undergraduate anatomy training since 1972.

Dr Sanet van Zyl, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Basic Medical Science, says owing to a prospective growth in the number of medical students as well as changing methods in teaching and learning, the need for a new dissection hall became evident to ensure that students get an optimal learning experience during dissection tuition.

“The new spacious dissection hall is equipped with special lighting and modern equipment for the training programme for second-year medical students. The hall is further equipped with modern sound and computer equipment. A unique camera system will allow students to follow dissection demonstrations on ten screens in the hall. Dissection demonstrations can also be recorded, enabling lecturers to put together new materials for teaching and learning.”

In addition to anatomy teaching for under- and postgraduate medical students, the Department of Basic Medical Science also offers anatomy teaching to under-graduate students from the School of Nursing, the School of Allied Health Professions as well as students from the Natural and Agricultural Sciences (such as students studying Forensic Science). The old dissection hall will still be used for the anatomy training of these students.

“The dissection programme for medical students is of critical importance, not only to acquire anatomical knowledge, but also for the development of critical skills and professionalism of our students. As already mentioned, these modern facilities will enable us to be at the forefront of current development in this field. This will benefit both present and future generations of medical students.”

At the same time, Prof Alan St. Clair Gibson, Head of the School of Medicine, announced that lecturing facilities are being developed at the Kimberley Hospital Complex. There are also plans for study facilities at the UFS’s Qwaqwa Campus and Bongani Hospital in Welkom. The UFS’s planning is also well underway for lecturing and residential facilities for students in Trompsburg, where students will receive training at the Trompsburg Hospital.

“We are very privileged to have these facilities and they will help us to provide world class training for students in the School of Medicine,” Prof St. Clair Gibson says.

 

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