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UFS wins big at 2019 IABC and MACE awards ceremonies

12 December 2019 | Story Amanda Tongha | Photo MACE

MACE read more — Staff members from the Department of Communication and Marketing celebrating their MACE Excellence Awards.

The Department of Communication and Marketing again received national and international recognition for its communication and awareness campaigns this year.

On 28 November 2019, the department made a big splash at the national Marketing, Advancement, and Communication in Education (MACE) 2019 Excellence Awards, winning multiple awards for its work in communication and marketing. Scooping up five awards, the department earned accolades for the communication campaign on the MT Steyn statue review process, the Kovsie App, and awareness campaigns for gender-based violence and the Kovsies Multilingual Mokete.

This comes on top of the two awards the department won at the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Africa Silver Quill Awards during an awards ceremony presented in Centurion, Gauteng, on 16 October 2019. During this event, the department was also acknowledged with an Excellence Award for the Kovsie App communication campaign and a Merit Award for the communication campaign on the MT Steyn statue review process.

Celebrating the best in marketing, advancement, and communication

Hosted annually, the MACE Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate the excellence of specialists and practitioners in marketing, advancement, and communication in the higher-education sector. MACE plays a vital role in adding value to practitioners through high-quality development programmes, facilitating networking partnerships and transformation, as well as promoting best practices among these professions at member institutions.

At the 2018 MACE Excellence Awards, the Department of Communication and Marketing received the prestigious Severus Cerff Award, presented to a higher-education institution that consistently excels in the fields of marketing and communication. The department also brought back six other awards, including three gold awards, which are awarded to the highest-scoring entries in the 30 categories evaluated. These ranged from brand-building campaigns to print publications; website to social media, assessed by marketing and communication professionals in the higher-education and private sectors.

Continuing its winning streak at the 2019 MACE Excellence Awards held in Port Elizabeth from 27 to 28 November 2019, the Department of Communication and Marketing was singled out for keeping stakeholders informed on the MT Steyn statue review process. For this, the department received the prestigious Business Issue Special Award, presented to an entry that successfully addressed a critical business issue.

Student Recruitment content

Staff members from the Department of Student Recruitment Services celebrating their MACE Excellence Awards

Being recognised nationally and internationally

Adding to the UFS tally, the Department of Student Recruitment Services was also recognised at the 2019 MACE Excellence Awards for its communication campaigns to market the university. The department won three awards, one gold (for the School Anthem – Petunia Secondary School campaign) and two bronze awards for the Light the fire – Grade 9 school subject choice intervention and Re-engineering of the UFS Undergraduate Prospectus 2020 campaigns, bringing the number of UFS MACE Excellence Awards for this year to eight.

Lacea Loader, Director: Communication and Marketing, who accepted the Business Issue Special Award on behalf of the University of the Free State (UFS), says the recognition affirms the role the department plays in building and promoting the UFS brand.

“I am immensely proud of the national and international recognition the Department of Communication and Marketing received for its work this year. Being recognised by our peers for quality and innovative work is most rewarding and it demonstrates the dedication and commitment of a highly innovative and creative team.”

The awards won by the Department of Communication and Marketing included three gold awards for the communication campaign on the MT Steyn statue review process, Gender-based violence Awareness Campaign, and Kovsies Multilingual Mokete Communication Campaign; a silver award for the KovsieApp Communication Campaign; and the Business Issue Special Award for the Communication Campaign on the MT Steyn statue review process.

- A record number of 202 entries from 15 institutions were evaluated in the 2019 MACE Excellence Awards.

News Archive

Students excel in legal interpreting programme

2010-02-24

Prof. Ezekiel Moraka, Vice-Rector: External Relations at the UFS with one of the students who received a diploma.
Photo: Mangaliso Radebe

A success rate of 90% was achieved by the first group of 100 students that successfully completed the two-year Diploma in Legal Interpreting at the University of the Free State (UFS).

The group recently received their diplomas at the ceremony held on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

The programme, offered by the university’s Department of Afroasiatic Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice, in collaboration with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA), is the only one of its kind in South Africa.

“The numbers that we are talking about here, if one looks at the needs of the country as such, is a small fraction,” said Advocate Simon Jiyane, Deputy Director General: Court Services in the Department of Justice.

“This is our first programme in collaboration with the UFS and I am hopeful it will lay a very solid foundation for other such programmes to follow.”

The diplomas were conferred by Prof. Ezekiel Moraka, Vice-Rector: External Relations at the UFS, on behalf of the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Jonathan Jansen.

He urged the students to use their skills as qualified court interpreters in the context of the challenges that face South Africa such as HIV/Aids, racism, transformation, unemployment, poverty, job losses, and many other such challenges.

“This is the reality we are faced with, all of us,” he said. “It requires skilful and morally upright people to address it adequately and effectively. You are adding up to the number of skilful people in our country and that means you have a critical role to play.”

He said the UFS, as a societal structure, is equally affected by those challenges because of being accountable to and economically dependent on society.

He also urged the students to use their skills to make contributions to the processes of transformation that are underway at the UFS.

“For instance, the UFS as a national asset has to transform to that level of being a true national asset. We need your full participation in this process so that we can together ensure the relevance of this university as a true South African university,” he said.

Advocate Jiyane urged universities to also look at some of the initiatives that the government takes to improve service delivery. One such initiative is a pilot project focusing on the use of indigenous languages in courts.

“Its aim is to ensure that our courts begin to recognise all official languages in terms of conducting their business,” he said.

“It is our responsibility as a department that, through this project, we begin to build those languages so that they are on a par with the other languages that are being utilised in our courts.”

The department has permanently employed two of the students who received their diplomas, while one of them, Ms Nombulelo Esta Meki, was awarded a bursary by SASSETA to study for a BA in Legal Interpreting. Ms Meki was the top achiever of the programme with an average of 86%.

Media Release:
Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
3 March 2010

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