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27 August 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Xolisa Mnukwa
Student Toolkit
The First Edition of the UFS Student Toolkit is now available on Blackboard.

Download the toolkit here

A common question first-time entering first-year students often ask themselves when they come to university, is: ‘How will I deal with the pressure?’

The University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Student Counselling and Development (SCD) – with the vision to promote, enable, and optimise students’ self-direction – has launched the first edition of the Student Toolkit on Friday, 23 August 2019.

The toolkit, which is now available on Blackboard, is intended to assist students in dealing and coping with challenges they face in their personal lives during their period of study at the UFS.

Students will be exposed to a variety of topics, pressing issues, and phenomena that they will encounter on a daily basis in their lives, such as academic and personal challenges, time management, procrastination, goal setting, anxiety, effective studying, stress management, mindful meditation, self-love, loneliness, relationships, sexual orientation, family frustrations, overthinking, death, and suicide. 

Present at the launch was the UFS Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement, Prof Puleng LenkaBula; the UFS Dean of Student Affairs, Mr Pura Mgolombane; the UFS Director for Student Counselling and Development, Melissa Barnaschone; Counselling Psychologist and compiler of the UFS Student Toolkit: Lize van den Bergh.

In addition, BCom Marketing honours student and poet, Thuthukani Ndlovu, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Next Chapter, Tshepang Mahlatsi, three students who have benefitted from SDC services, delegates from the department, and other affiliated students were all in attendance. 

For more information about the Student Toolkit, contact the Department of Student Counselling and Development at scd@ufs.ac.za or call +27 51 401 2853.


News Archive

Centre for Development Support focuses on job creation
2010-02-12

Pictured above are Prof. Marais and Dr. Toerien at the seminar.
Photo: Stephen Collet


The Centre for Development Support (CDS) is a progressive research unit at the University of the Free State (UFS). The centre is also seen as a training unit promoting sustainable human development. To prove this, the CDS recently presented a seminar series with the Khanya African Institute for Community-Driven Development.

The seminar was titled “Of paradoxes and job creation: Exploring alternative solutions”. Many aspects were looked at and Dr Daan Toerien, former Vice-President of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), presented the seminar.

According to Prof. Lochner Marais, director of the CDS, the seminar series looked into the various conflicts between technology, job creation and local economic development planning. Everyone who attended the seminar would agree that the frontiers of knowledge were undoubtedly challenged. -Lize du Plessis

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