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29 April 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba
Government to enhance PhD production
University Staff Development Programme will capacitate PhD candidates in the tripartite Global Health programme.

Can you complete a PhD in three years? The answer is “yes!” However, a challenge of this magnitude requires a proper plan.The University Staff Doctorate Programme (USDP) will provide the blueprint for that plan to five high-calibre senior staff members at the University of the Free State (UFS) who have taken on the challenge to obtain PhDs.

What is the USDP?
The University of Venda and the University of Virginia in the US have partnered with our university to help transform South African academic expertise in Global Health. Leading the cohort is the UFS Office for International Affairs. This USDP project falls under the broader University Capacity Development Programme funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training.

Candidates will be supported through mechanisms including an annual training school, visits to partner universities abroad, scholarships and reduced fees, interdisciplinary and inter-institutional co-supervision and expert advice, as well as parallel support for supervisors.

Members of the cohort

Chevon Slambee, Chief Internationalisation Officer at the Office for International Affairs, said: “These are established academics and role models in their respective areas of specialisation who have displayed strong leadership skills whilst showing a keen interest to collaborate with institutions in the US in order to advance their academic and professional careers.”

Our cohort comprises of Prof Riaz Seedat, Head: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Dr Steven Matshidza, Head: Orthopaedic Surgery; Prof Shisana Baloyi, Head: Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Dr Edwin Turton, Head of and Senior Lecturer at the Department Anaesthesiology; and Prof Makoali Makotoko, Head: Cardiology, who will be funded by the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Carving changemakers

Three years later, this cohort will fulfil the National Development Plan to have 75% of university academic staff holding PhDs and becoming the dominant drivers of new knowledge production within the higher education science and innovation system by 2030.

News Archive

SRC outlines direction for students at the UFS
2009-09-29

This week, the Student Representative Councils (SRC) of the Main and Qwaqwa Campuses of the University of the Free State (UFS) announced the direction that the student community would follow during their term of office.

Following various difficult situations in the process to diversify the student body and to foster integration among students during the last term of office, the student leaders firstly engaged on prevailing stereotypes among students.

They considered shared values that would assist the student community in building a united spirit and healthy student life on the campuses.

The SRC reached consensus that all students should strive to realise and inspire the following values in student life:

  • Excellence
  • Innovation
  • Respect
  • Counter-cultural leadership
  • Equality

This year the SRC will focus the attention of the university as a whole, but specifically that of the student body on:

  • Growing international competitiveness
  • Promoting continuously meaningful leadership
  • Rolling out broad-based leadership development of all students
  • Social integration of all and diverse groups
  • Developing academic programmes with a broader perspective

The SRC wishes to contribute in building an institution where students grow to maturity through meaningful leadership and total student development.

They seek an environment where students are continuously intellectually stimulated through research-based activities and where student skills development is maximised by evolving a common curriculum.

The student leaders furthermore resolved that they want graduates of the university to differentiate themselves by their distinctive leadership ability

They expect that the university community will exhibit a human-centred focus on reconciliation and on the transformation and integration of diverse groups and that all stakeholder groups will receive equitable opportunities.

In the final instance they envisage that the university will continue to grow as an institution that is respected and internationally recognised.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Deputy Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
25 September 2009

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