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25 April 2019 | Story Mamosa Makaya
Since 2016, the University of the Free State Center for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS) has received a grant from First National Bank worth R2 498 000, which supports tertiary bursaries for students with disabilities. Bursary holders are funded through CUADS, as the administrator of the bursaries.
  
These are students enrolled for various academic programmes who require academic assistance and/or assistive devices such as electronic handheld magnifiers, laptops, and hearing aids. The FNB grant also covers tuition, accommodation, study material and books, and meals.  The success of the grant is already evident, with one of the recipients having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in December 2018. A second student was capped at the April 2019 graduations with a BSc Honours in Quantity Surveying.
 
Supporting the principles of the ITP

The UFS received the grant from FNB in instalments, starting in the 2016 academic year to date, supporting the needs of 40 disabled students. This grant and the work of CUADS speaks to and supports the principles of the Integrated Transformation Plan (ITP), namely inclusivity, transformation, and diversity. The vision of the Universal Access work stream is to enable the UFS to create an environment where students with disabilities can experience all aspects of student life equal to their non-disabled peers. The ITP provides for the recognition of the rights of people with disabilities as an important lesson in social justice and an opportunity to reinforce university values.

The successful administration of the grant to benefit past and present students is a ‘feather in the cap’ of CUADS, and is a shining example of the impact of public private investment and the endless possibilities that open up when there is a commitment to developing future leaders in academic spaces, allowing them to thrive by creating a learning environment that is welcoming and empowering. 



News Archive

Dr Malete elected Chairperson of PanSALB
2010-09-06

Dr. Elias Malete

The Principal of UFS’s Qwaqwa Campus, Dr Elias Malete, was recently elected Chairperson of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) at the 62nd General Board Meeting held in Pretoria. He is taking over from Prof. Sihawukele Ngubane from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

PanSALB is a constitutional body tasked with promoting and creating conditions for the development and use of eleven official languages in South Africa, including the likes of German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, amongst others.

“Our mandate going forward is to complement the good work that was done by Prof. Ngubane. We are charged with the responsibility of maintaining quality, respect, honesty and accountability in order to realise our new vision of promoting and ensuring respect for all languages commonly used by South African communities, including the Khoi, Nama and San languages, as well as South African Sign Language,” said Dr Malete.

“Our main focus in the next twelve months of office will be the development of programmes which will support PanSALB’s three-year strategic plan. These programmes will focus on administrative matters to ensure prudent financial and effective corporate governance of PanSALB, as well as aligning our structures like national language bodies, national lexicographic units and provincial language committees with the new strategic plan. This alignment is crucial if we are to create conditions for the development of all languages, thus promoting multilingualism and ensuring respect for all South African languages,” said Dr Malete.

Meanwhile, Dr Malete was invited by the Athens Institute for Education and Research to present a paper at the 3rd Annual International Conference in Literature, Language and Linguistics in Athens, Greece. His paper, Negation of adjuncts in Sesotho, was well received by the international audience.
 

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