Latest News Archive

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

Four universities to walk 200 000 km in ten weeks

12 April 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Charl Devenish

“May the best team win the 2019 BestMed Pedometer Challenge!” said LJ van Zyl, Pedometer Challenge ambassador.

Participants in the 2019 BestMed Pedometer Challenge will start improving their health step by step after the University of the Free State (UFS) challenged the Stellenbosch University, Central University of Technology, and North-West University (NWU) to an eight-week walking competition.

South African 400-metre hurdles record-holder and the Pedometer Challenge ambassador, LJ van Zyl, embraced the initiative as an alternative method to achieve fitness. “I am so tired of running and this is great way to stay fit,” he said during the official launch on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus on 5 April 2019.

Inter-institutional fight for fitness

Last year, the UFS Division for Organisational Development and Employment Wellness in the Department of Human Resources led a UFS-only challenge that saw 60 teams of staff members log a total of 54 606 km in eight weeks. The division then challenged the NWU.

Together, the NWU and UFS walked 132 000 km. This year, the UFS is taking it one step further by challenging two more institutions.

Leading the way

“We aim to get South Africa active – starting with the UFS – by embracing fitness and health ourselves,” said Arina Engelbrecht, UFS Employee Wellness Specialist.

Participants on all fitness and activity levels will gun for a 200 000 km target over 10 weeks.

The challenge kicked off on the Bloemfontein Campus with a 3-km walk at the launch, leaving 199 997 km between the four universities for the rest of the eight-week challenge.

News Archive

Training symposium draws cardiothoracic surgeons from the continent to the UFS

2015-07-15

The University of the Free State hosted its annual Hannes Meyer Registrar Symposium at the Bloemfontein campus from 10 to 12 July 2015. This symposium was a collaborative effort by the UFS, the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgeons of South Africa (SCTSSA) and the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgeons (EACTS). Young surgeons in training (registrars) from all over the continent attended this two and a half day conference.

The delegates include the heads of the departments of, or a senior consultant from, every department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in South Africa as well as two or three registrars and three perfusionists. In addition, delegates from other African countries were welcomed to our shores as well.

Unlike traditional conferencing, this symposium will feature a wet lab session, where surgeons perform a range of heart operations in a laboratory setting, using pig hearts.

The symposium is organised by Prof Francis Smit, (Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, UFS) and Prof Tony Linegar, (part-time lecturer-UFS).

“This is a truly remarkable training symposium. It is supported internationally by EACTS, nationally by SCTSSA, and locally by the UFS. It is the largest training symposium in Africa, and Bloemfontein/UFS is proud to host this event on an annual basis, having coordinated and organised this event since 2004.”

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

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