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Blending online learning and internationalisation

10 December 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Charl Devenish

Coloquium read more — The iKUDU kick-off meeting sets the tone for a three-year collaboration between 10 universities that share a vision for internationalisation

In order for higher education institutions to stay truly relevant and impactful, they need to be able to respond to global trends and patterns of higher education and internationalisation. Digitisation is one of the critical aspects of 4IR, which is currently unfolding.

The iKudu project is an innovative project that will connect large numbers of students utilising digital technology, thereby allowing students to gain international exposure irrespective of socioeconomic background, gender or disability status. Internationalised and transformed curricula, which integrate Cooperative Online International Learning (COIL) and virtual exchange, are a new model for the higher education teaching and learning. This will allow all students to develop the graduate attributes required for success and employability in a globalised world.

The University of the Free State (UFS) is the coordinator of the iKUDU project, which has been awarded €999 881,00 funding from the European Union’s Erasmus + Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) framework. It held its kick-off meeting from 25 to 26 November 2019 at the Bloemfontein Campus. The Office for International Affairs coordinates the project and hosted this meeting, which mapped out the project’s trajectory for the next three years. The co-coordinating University of Antwerp and all partner universities attended.

Inclusive and decolonised curricula

Over the next three years 10 partner consortium universities, consisting of five European partner universities and five South African partner universities, will have the responsibility of developing a contextualised South African concept of Internationalisation of the Curriculum (IoC), which integrates COIL virtual exchanges. This is an ideal firmly anchored in our university’s Integrated Transformation Plan (ITP).

Dr Jos Beelen, a professor of Global Learning at The Hague University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands, referred in his keynote address to the 2014 Erasmus Impact Study, which assessed the effects of mobility on the skills and employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions.

According to the findings, 64% of employers considered international experience important for recruitment which was a significant increase from 37% in 2006. In addition, the study showed that 64% of employers said graduates with an international background are given greater professional responsibility. Although conducted in Brussels in the European Union, the results reflect the growing view that internationalisation is the future.

Bridging the mobility gap

COIL Consulting Director, Jon Rubin, also presented a keynote address in which he stated: “International education has long suggested that the way to expand one’s view of other cultures is to travel, usually by studying abroad, and that modality, when engaged with intensity and self-reflection, is probably still the best way for students to learn about the world.”

Coloquium Content

Delegates who attended the iKUDU Colloquium at the University of the Free State ( Photo: Charl Devenish)

However, only a select few university students and professors have the chance to blend study and research with travel. “COIL is a method for re-purposing the tools and affordances of online education so that they serve a new goal – that of providing meaningful international experiences for students and instructors. I think we can do more to build true online bridges to other cultures and I believe we can accomplish that through COIL linkages,” said Rubin.

UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, alluded to the project in his welcoming speech saying: “The focus of the iKUDU project is curriculum transformation.” The iKUDU kick-off meeting served as a platform to develop a project implementation plan that will ensure that equal, bilateral international collaboration between institutions and in the classroom remains a high priority.

News Archive

A new dawn for student governance

2011-09-02

Our SRC presidents: Richard Chemaly (Bloemfontein Campus) and Bongani Ncgaca (Qwaqwa Campus)
Photo: Hannes Pieterse

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The successful and peaceful completion of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Student Representative (SRC) elections 2011 herals a new dawn for student governance with the announcement of the results today (1 September 2011).

The SRC elections at the Qwaqwa Campus were completed on 25 August 2011, while the elections at our Bloemfontein Campus took place on 29 and 30 August 2011.

“A new dawn heralds a new day when Richard Chemaly, the son of Lebanese immigrants becomes President of an SRC, as elected by students from all racial backgrounds and from across the student body at large. A new day has arrived when candidates could have won voter support across racial lines; a new day is here when all SRC members are now recognised leaders on the basis of academic accountability,” the Dean of Student Affairs, Mr Rudi Buys, says.

A new dawn has arrived; firstly, insofar as student elections for the choice of student leaders at the UFS now proceed according to a non-racial and a non-party political basis.

Not only did the SRC elections at both the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses achieve its required quorum, with 31% (4 729 votes) and 50% (2 112 votes) voter turnout, respectively, but the SRC elected by students at the Bloemfontein Campus is 55% black and 45% white, and 60% female and 40% male. The numbers of votes gained by successful candidates also indicate that voters from all racial backgrounds have voted for their candidates of choice.

Secondly, a new dawn has arrived insofar as student governance occupied by only some student groups claiming to speak on behalf of all students has made way for direct voting for candidates by the broad student body and the threefold increase of student governance structures on campus.

Not only did all students at our Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses (a total of 15 173 and 4 257, respectively) have the opportunity to participate in voting directly, but nine additional Student Councils were established at our Bloemfontein Campus that each holds an ex officio seat on the SRC and allows for student governance in all the major student sectors of the student body, such as for postgraduate students, international students and all categories of student associations.

The various councils now established include the Student Academic Affairs Council, the Student Associations Council, the Postgraduate Student Council, the International Student Council, the Student Media Council, the Residences Student Council, the Commuter Student Council and the Rag Community Service Fundraising and Service Councils. In addition, all faculties also introduced student representative structures at departmental and faculty level in 2011 to ensure student participation in faculty management and governance.

The SRC members at the Bloemfontein Campus are:

Elective portfolios:
President: Mr Richard Chemaly
Vice-President: Mr Lefata David Maklein
Secretary: Ms Matshepo Ramokgadi
Treasurer: Mr Werner Pretorius
Arts & Culture: Ms Alta Grobelaar
Accessibility & Student Support: Mr William Clayton
First-generation Students: Ms Petre du Plessis
Media, Marketing & Liaison: Ms Biejanka Calitz
Sport: Mr Bonolo Thebe
Student Development & Environmental Affairs: Ms Busisiwe Madikizela
Transformation: Ms Qaqamba Mhlauli

Ex officio portfolios:
Dialogue & Ex officio: Associations Student Council: Mr Anesu Ruswa
Academic Affairs & Ex officio: Academic Affairs Student Council: Mr Jean Vermaas
Residence Affairs & Ex officio: Campus Residences Student Council: Ms Mpho Mokaleng
City student Affairs & Ex officio: Commuter Student Council: Ms Annemieke Plekker
Postgraduate Affairs & Ex officio: Postgraduate Student Council: Ms Glancina Mokone
International Affairs & Ex officio: International Student Council: Mr Pitso Ramokoatsi
Student Media Affairs & Ex officio: Student Media Council: Ms Nicole Heyns
RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Fundraising Council: Ms Iselma Parker
RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Community Service Council: Ms Motheo Pooe

In the Qwaqwa elections, SASCO achieved 36,84% of the vote, with SADESMO, PASMA and NASMO each achieving 29,73% and 18,56% and 12,74%, respectively .

Mr Bongani Ncgaca was elected as the President of the SRC at our Qwaqwa Campus, while the names of the SRC members at the campus will be announced on 7 September 2011.

The Central SRC will be established on 8 September 2011 by a joint sitting of the two SRCs.

The successful completion of the SRC elections at the Bloemfontein Campus follows a yearlong review process of student governance by a Broad Student Transformation Forum (BSTF) that consists of 59 delegations from student organisations and residences. The BSTF adopted independent candidacy for elective portfolios and additional student councils to provide ex officio seats on the SRC as the template for student governance, following the consideration of a series of benchmarking reports on student governance nationally and internationally.

The UFS Council adopted the new SRC Constitution, as drafted and submitted by the BSTF, on 3 June 2011.

Media Release
1 September 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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