Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
12 April 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Charl Devenish
LJ van Zyl
“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

Minister to visit University of the Free State’s job creation project
2007-11-12

A high level delegation led by the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms Lulu Xingwana, will visit the Mangaung / University of the Free State Community Partnership Programme (MUCPP) in Bloemfontein on Monday, 12 November 2007, to learn more of the progress and implementation of job creation efforts in the Free State and the country.

The University of the Free State is involved in the National Programme for the Creation of Small Enterprises and Jobs for the Second Economy as part of the government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA).

The UFS was appointed as a training coordinator for small enterprises and community based organisations using the MUCPP partnership model, informed by the successful Self-help Group model from the Indian NGO, Hand-in-Hand. It is hoped that this partnership model of the UFS can potentially serve as an example to other provinces as part of the programme to create small enterprises and jobs in the second economy.

The delegation that will visit the MUCPP site in Rocklands includes Minister Xingwana, Chairperson of the President’s International Investment Council (IIC), Dr Percy Barnevick, and the national leader of the Jobs for Growth Programme, Ms Tina Radebe.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@mail.ufs.ac.za  
9 November 2007
 

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