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11 April 2019 | Story Zama Feni | Photo Supplied
School of Nursing 50 year anniversary
From the left: Mrs Cheslyn Petersen; Prof Magda Muller, Head of the School of Nursing; and Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

The University of the Free State (UFS) Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, hailed the institution’s School of Nursing as one of the flagship entities and prime examples of community engagement.

Addressing attendees at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the school on 6 April 2019, Prof Petersen said: “I believe that you have managed to find a balance between being at the scientific forefront in terms of research output and state-of-the-art simulation and other training technologies, and the values of care, service, and selflessness. 

History of the School of Nursing

Taking the guests down memory lane regarding the history of the school, Prof Petersen said the university accommodated Nursing students within the Department of Social Work in the then Faculty of Social Sciences from the year 1967. The Department of Nursing was subsequently created in 1969. At that point, there was no Faculty of Health Sciences, and the Department of Nursing remained in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Growing from strength to strength


He said the School of Nursing has over the past 50 years gone from strength to strength, affecting the landscape of nursing in South Africa through its achievements and its alumni.

“In celebrating 50 years of nursing scholarship and education, it is important to understand that the discipline of nursing is firmly rooted within the community it serves.” 
“Without our stakeholders across many services, both public and private, we would not have been here tonight,” said Prof Petersen.

Head of the School of Nursing, Prof Magda Mulder, said the 50th celebrations were an important milestone which commenced with the appointment of Professor Idalia Loots as the first Professor of Nursing in 1969 in the erstwhile Department of Nursing.  
“Prof Loots’ views on graduate nurse education were visionary and saw the relatively small intake of students soar from between 16 and 20 to more than 80. Today, there is ample evidence in literature to support nursing education at graduate level, resulting in better nursing care, and fewer errors and lawsuits,” she said. 

News Archive

UFS deserves right to decisions
2010-08-15

Following visits of various youth formations to the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Rector and Vice-Chancellor, as well as the Dean of Student Affairs the past week, the university sees the need to remind all stakeholders and outside organisations that, although their views and inputs may be welcomed, the university reserves the right to make decisions regarding student matters and protect our students against suspected influences.

This reminder follows a series of meetings with organisations such as amongst others the Afriforum Youth and the ANC Youth League and subsequent media releases by some of these organisations, which often do not reflect correctly the nature and content of the discussions.

“While we welcome engagement with any organisation serving a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic agenda and regularly invite civil society organisations to dialogue with and assist us in student matters, we reserve the right to decide how to best serve interest of our students,” said Mr Rudi Buys, Dean of Student Affairs at the UFS.

“In our attempt to construct a value-driven, ethically sound and mature student governance environment, we also expect of stakeholders to ensure they engage us maturely and ethically at all times,” Mr Buys said.

“We will guard against organisations that may, under a guise of civil society engagement, wish to continue dysfunctional party-political cultures that fuel divisions and racial tensions among our students. In such cases where organisations by their conduct may prove themselves to do exactly that, we will have no other option but to refuse them entry to campus and set limits to their engagement of our students,” Mr Buys warned.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (actg.)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za  
14 August 2010
 

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