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11 October 2018 | Story UFS | Photo Zama Feni
UFS launch student business incubator project
Rector and Vice-Chancellor Francis Peterson cutting the ribbon as the office of Student Business Incubator Project was officially opened last Friday.

The University of Free State has recently launched a Student Business Incubator Project that will provide impetus to students with business ideas.

The initiative, which is under the management of the Directorate for Research and Development (DRD) was conceived a few years ago with objective of untapping the entrepreneurial potential of students. 

And it was on Friday last week that all the energy and efforts that were directed towards the planning of this project culminated into the official launch and opening of the offices where the students will conduct their business operations.

Generate new business ideas


Delivering a brief address at the launch, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen encouraged students to generate new business ideas that would make them job creators at the end of the day. 

“As a university, we should disseminate our output to society through research, education and technology transfer. The Incubator Project is a good initiative and I would like to see it growing so that more students can benefit from a facility such as this,” he said. 
Professor Petersen encouraged the student innovators to engage society so that they can make quality of life better through new knowledge.

“You must continue to incubate ideas and develop them,” he said adding that one of the great things that a university is measured about is the employability of its graduates.

Business ideas awarded 
On the previous day, DRD hosted a pitching competition for the business ideas that students were invited to submit.

Assistant Research Officer and Project Manager, Ayanda Makhanya said they were excited about the outcome of their call to students as they received an overall total of 60 ideas.

“We screened all the inputs and came up with 14 ideas. We will now be working with these students to provide the necessary support,” she said.

The winner in the pitching competition was an LLB student Mannini Setai whose idea was the production of eco-friendly bricks.

The office are located near the UFS Sasol Library and has computers and a big flat screen.

News Archive

Head of Department receives prestigious scholarship
2012-02-01

 

Prof. Hennie van Coller

Professor Hennie van Coller, Outstanding Professor and Head of our Department Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, is the proud receiver of a EURIAS (European Institute for Advanced Studies) Scholarship. Prof. Van Coller is one of 17 candidates from all disciplines to be awarded the EURIAS Scholarship.

The scholarship includes a 10-month residency at one of the 14 institutions involved. Prof. Van Coller will be accommodated at the Flemish Academic Centre for Science and the Arts (VLAC) in Brussels.
 
Researchers from around the world were given the opportunity to apply for this prestige scholarship. It is awarded in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, as well as in other fields of science. Applicants had to submit an “innovative” research proposal, which demonstrates the ability to move further than disciplinary specialisation and also show an international alliance and quality of publications.
 
Van Coller is the editor of Perspektief en Profiel: ’n Afrikaanse Literatuurgeskiedenis. This literature study is used internationally and is currently being updated and reissued. He is also one of just a few contributors in Afrikaans literature to be instrumental in the new Cambridge South African Literary History edited by David Attwood and Derek Attridge.

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