Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

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

Census 2011 overshadowed by vuvuzela announcements

2012-11-20

Mike Schüssler, economist
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
15 November 2012

Complete Lecture (MP3)

Census 2011 contains good statistics but these are overshadowed by vuvuzela announcements and a selective approach, economist Mike Schüssler said at a presentation at the UFS.

“Why highlight one inequality and not another success factor? Is Government that negative about itself?” Mr Schüssler, owner of Economist.co.za, asked.

“Why is all the good news such as home ownership, water, lights, cars, cellphones, etc. put on the back burner? For example, we have more rooms than people in our primary residence. Data shows that a third of Africans have a second home. Why are some statistics that are racially based not made available, e.g. orphans? So are “bad” statistics not always presented?”

He highlighted statistics that did not get the necessary attention in the media. One such statistic is that black South Africans earn 46% of all income compared to 39% of whites. The census also showed that black South Africans fully own nearly ten times the amount of houses that whites do. Another statistic is that black South Africans are the only population group to have a younger median age. “This is against worldwide trends and in all likelihood has to do with AIDS. It is killing black South Africans more than other race groups.”

Mr Schüssler also gave insight into education. He said education does count when earnings are taken into account. “I could easily say that the average degree earns nearly five times more than a matric and the average matric earns twice the pay of a grade 11.”

He also mentioned that people lie in surveys. On the expenditure side he said, “People apparently do not admit that they gamble or drink or smoke when asked. They also do not eat out but when looking at industry and sector sales, this is exposed and the CPI is, for example, reweighted. They forget their food expenditure and brag about their cars. They seemingly spend massively on houses but little on maintenance. They spend more than they earn.”

“On income, the lie is that people forget or do not know the difference between gross and net salaries. People forget garnishee orders, loan repayments and certainly do not have an idea what companies pay on their behalf to pensions and medical aid. People want to keep getting social grants so they are more motivated to forget income. People are scared of taxes too so they lower income when asked. They spend more than they earn in many categories.”

On household assets Mr Schüssler said South Africans are asset rich but income poor. Over 8,3 million black African families stay in brick or concrete houses out of a total of 11,2 million total. About 4,9 million black families own their own home fully while only 502 000 whites do (fully paid off or nearly ten times more black families own their own homes fully). Just over 880 000 black South Africans are paying off their homes while 518 000 white families are.

Other interesting statistics are that 13,2 million people work, 22,5 million have bank accounts, 19,6 million have credit records. Thirty percent of households have cars, 90% of households have cellphones and 80% of households have TVs.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept