Latest News Archive

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

Zane Botha appointed as head coach of UFS Young Guns

14 February 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa

Zane Botha has won a Varsity Cup title as captain of Tuks, two Varsity hostel titles as coach of Vishuis, and now he would like to add a third trophy to his belt as head coach of the UFS Young Guns.

Zane guided House Vishuis to the national crown in 2017 and 2018 and was promoted to coach of the university’s U20 team playing in the Varsity Cup, known as the Young Guns.

Botha lifted the Varsity Cup trophy as the skipper of Tuks in 2012.

“To achieve success in a third Varsity competition would be quite special and is definitely a goal that I look forward to achieving while I work with young people,” Zane said.

The format of the Rugby Varsity Cup competition has changed and will now coincide with the competition for senior players. Both the seniors and the younger players will face the same opponents on the same day. The Young Guns are scheduled to play eight fixtures before the knockout stages, in contrast to earlier years when they only played twice against two opponents before the semi-finals.

In 2018 the UFS U20 team, who previously won the competition in 2014, won all four of their matches against the Ixias and the Pukke before they lost to Tuks in the semi-final.

According to Zane, this format provides the players with more playing opportunities, but at the same time it can also place their depth under pressure when they’re facing injuries, which he aims to limit.

He further explained that he is pleased to have had buy-in in the first round of matches, as it provided him with an extra week’s preparation.

News Archive

Young researchers shine during the international Afromontane Colloquium

2017-07-18

From the left, are: Drs Reetu Sogani (India),
Greg Greenwood (US-Switzerland), Teboho Manchu,
Acting Campus Principal, Drs Jianchu Xu (China),
Henri Rueff (Switzerland), Glen Taylor, Senior Director:
Research Development; and Dr Elsa Crause,
Campus Vice-Principal: Academic and Research.
Photo: Thabo Kessah

The University of the Free State’s Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), which is situated on the Qwaqwa Campus, has the potential to produce some of the world’s best and dynamic young researchers. This is the view shared by Drs Henri Rueff and Reetu Sogani, who were the keynote speakers during the ARU Colloquium hosted at Golden Gate in the Eastern Free State.

Dr Rueff, a geographer and environmental economist from the Universities of Basel and Bern in Switzerland, was referring to no less than ten Qwaqwa Campus postgraduate students who made oral and poster presentations during the inaugural international colloquium.

Colloquium an opportunity to interact
“You have some of the world’s most motivated and highly skilled students who have the courage to stand in front of extremely critical scientists from all over the globe – and that must be commended,” he said.

Dr Reetu Sogani from India said that her first trip to South Africa did not disappoint. “This colloquium was a very good learning experience for me as I had the opportunity to interact with brilliant and young scientists from this part of the world,” she added.

In closing the colloquium, the Senior Director: Research Development, Dr Glen Taylor, committed the UFS to the success of the unit.

“The ARU will strengthen the research output of the campus. But most important of all, it is setting the research agenda for the Qwaqwa Campus, and for the institution at large, to address the challenges that the surrounding mountain communities are faced with,” he said.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Open Distance Learning

Theology and Religion

Business School