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Save money and conserve the environment
Print only when it is necessary: Save money and conserve the environment.

Postgraduate students are often faced with the dilemma of not knowing whether to print or not to print their theses and dissertations for assessment. This may be because of the preference of different examiners. 

According to Dr Emmie Smit, Head: Academic Writing at the UFS Postgraduate School, students often spend a lot of money printing copies of their theses or dissertations and use expensive binding, only to find out that most examiners prefer electronic copies.
 
Supervisors should find out from examiners prior to submission whether the examiner prefers printed or electronic copies. In this way, students can save money and paper which will help to conserve the environment. When requested for assessment, hard copies need to be neatly bound. However, expensive binding is also not necessary. Stapling and ring-binding are acceptable and cost-effective.

Students are then required to submit the electronic and/or hard copies to the Postgraduate Student Academic Services. The UFS only requires an electronic copy of the after-assessment or final thesis/dissertation to be submitted to the UFS library for the database. 

The format and length of dissertations and theses are determined by faculty- or department-specific guidelines. However, they should be in academic style, with consistent formatting, and scholarly content. Students need to note that the UFS does not require students to print copies as gifts to supervisors, examiners, or friends and family.

Read the Policy on Master’s and Doctoral Studies to learn more

News Archive

"Participation without insight leads to pronouncements without prospects"
2004-08-30

Taking the poor off the streets and encouraging their participation in the planning process is not always empowering them but it might be robbing them of their power, said Prof Das Steyn, of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Speaking on public participation in the planning process during his inaugural lecture, Prof Steyn said this meant that people in the streets sometimes have more power than people in the system.

“Public participation is an overgeneralization that is often defined as providing citizens with opportunities to take part in governmental decisions and planning processes. But there must be a balance between power and responsibility,” he said.

According to Prof. Steyn, public participation in town planning plays a vital role and can be both deliberation and participation.

After 1994 there was a widespread insistence on democracy, and legislation passed since then was based on the belief that the community must be involved in the planning process.

He said the experience of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the UFS was that in some cases people showed lack of interest in public participation.

He believed that the aim of public participation is to improve the effectiveness of planning and that public participation democratises project planning.

“Public participation can help us know how the public feels about certain issues. It has the potential of resolving a conflict, but this is not guaranteed,” Prof Steyn said.

 

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