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Kweku flies Kovsie flag high at Universität Bremen

20 December 2019 Photo Shaari Rai Poken

It all started with the Umoja Buddy Programme (UBP). Kweku Gavor was a UBP ambassador when he met exchange students from Germany. Two years later, the roles were reversed. “Helping out students who later have become my really good friends opened up the opportunity for me to study abroad in Germany.” he said.

Kweku spent about four months as part of a pilot Summer Lab Programme at Universität Bremen after being nominated for a scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Service, which his former Umoja buddies helped create. He shared the experience with eight other students from Palestine, Poland, Ukraine, and the US. The focus was on Business Studies, Marketing and Economics.

According to the BCom graduate, studying internationally gave him new insights. “The experience opened my mind and better-equipped me to work in situations in which I need to handle a lot of pressure against the clock.”

The first leg of the programme featured corresponding modules presented in a classroom environment, which were integrated with assignments, presentations, tests and exams. This was supplemented by a language course that involved cultural leadership training. Another crucial part of the Summer Lab Programme was an internship where students were placed with companies and tasked with a problem-solving project. Kweku was placed at Fabular Ai, an artificial intelligence company which designs computer software.

“Going to study abroad is an extremely rare and fantastic opportunity I advise all who can to grab it with both hands,” said Kweku, who also used the opportunity to travel all over Europe.

Internationalisation at home with Umoja

The UBP, which is collaboratively run by the UFS Office for International Affairs and Student Affairs, played a big part in Kweku being given the opportunity to study abroad. However, unlike him, not all students have to the opportunity to engage in undergraduate exchanges.

The UBP is part of the university’s efforts to advance internationalisation at home, as anchored in the UFS Strategic Plan: 2018-2022. With the programme, students are able to receive an international experience on home ground.

The programme aims to connect international and local students through meaningful lifelong friendships and foster their academic, social and cultural integration. It pairs first-entry international students with senior Kovsies who provide a warm, welcoming, friendly face, and a helping hand.

Expression of interest sought

A total of 48 ambassadors were enrolled in 2019. To join the UBP in 2020, contact Sonya Kapfumvuti at KapfumvutiSCR@ufs.ac.za or call her on 051 401 3397.

News Archive

UFS academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages

2006-05-22

During the colloquium presented in Belgium by the Province Antwerp were from the left Prof Pol Cuvelier (University of Antwerp), Prof Theo du Plessis (Director: Unit for Language Management at the UFS), Mr Ludo Helsen (Permanent Deputy: Province of Antwerp) and Mr Jean-Pierre Rondas (Flemish radio journalist).

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UFS academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages at international conference

Prof Theo du Plessis, Director of the Unit for Language Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), was the main speaker at a colloquium titled “Routes: Where to now? - Een traject van het Nederlands naar het Afrikaans en de Afrikatalen”, which was recently presented by the Province Antwerp in Belgium.

The aim of the colloquium was to discuss the future cooperation in the field of language between the Province Antwerp and South Africa.

The Province Antwerp is already involved with projects in South Africa. One of these projects is the Multilingual Information Development Programme (MIDP), a partnership project between the UFS and the Free State Province that is mainly funded by the Province Antwerp.

The project has been running since 1999 and was recently in the news with the presentation of a symposium on multilingualism and exclusion on the Main Campus of the UFS. It is hoped that the Routes colloquium will indicate new stages on which can be added to the already successful cooperation in the area of language.

Prof Du Plessis’s presentation titled “Nederlands, Afrikaans en die Afrikatale – kan samewerking slaag? Die geval MIDP in die Vrystaat”, investigated the successes that have been made with the MIDP. He discussed two possible approaches to cooperation in the areas of language, that of a sentimentalistic approach against an instrumentalistic approach.

Cooperation in the first approach makes language the aim. In the second approach language is used as a means to a greater aim. According to Prof du Plessis the first approach is driven by a romantisised idea about the relation between the Flemish and Afrikaans speaking people, which may unfortunately polarise the position of Afrikaans in South Africa even further.

He argues that, given the time that we are in, the second approach will deliver more constructive results as language can among others be used for to further democracy in South Africa. This can happen by cooperation in the institutionalising of multilingualism in our society. The more languages are used in education, law and government administration, the more we can be assured a successful democracy.

The Routes colloquium was facilitated by the well-known Flemish radio journalist, Jean-Pierre Rondas. About twenty South African and Flemish language specialists took part in the colloquium. Dr Fritz Kok, outgoing chief executive officer of the ATKV took part in the opening ceremony and Dr Neville Alexander from the University of Cape Town and well-known activist for multilingualism in South Africa was also one of the main speakers.

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