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05 February 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Moeketsi Mokgotsi
KovsieAct Eco Cars Read More
Kovsies weld their way to a sustainable environment

The 2019 group of first-year students can look forward to a fun and adventure-filled first two weeks (28 January–9 February) of varsity life, as a number of projects and activities await them.

Kovsie ACT’s main theme for 2019 revolves around building ‘awareness’. This includes a tree-and-traffic-signs project which entails old T-shirts/material being sewn/crocheted together to make different patterns to be fitted around the trees on campus in order to create a beautiful piece of art portraying a message of ‘awareness’.

A canvas painting will also form part of the events, as first-years – with the help of their seniors – will be required to put together a painting that addresses environmental, crime, gender-based, and other societal issues that will later be placed on the wall at the Thakaneng Bridge.

On the morning of 9 February 2019, seniors will tackle the community-engagement leg of the Kovsie ACT line-up, working in their respective teams to decorate an eco-vehicle from waste materials. Each team has their own Pit stop – decorated in F1 style. This eco-vehicle race will take place on Saturday morning from 09:00 – 12:00 in Academia road (in front of Emily Hobhouse Residence).  In addition, art sculptures will be built to form part of the Eco-vehicle race. These art pieces - if approved – will after the Eco-vehicle challenge be assigned a spot on campus where it can spread the message of awareness and be appreciated by fellow students.

The abovementioned projects are expected to withstand adverse weather conditions and last for a minimum of six months.

To close off the Kovsie ACT activities, students and the public can see forward to exciting performances during the Kovsie ACT music festival on the evening of 9 February. This will include musical sensations such as the likes of Sho Madjozi, Bittereinder, Busiswa, and many more.

Tickets for the festival are available at the UFS Bloemfontein Campus Rag Farm and the Food Zone store. For more information on Kovsie ACT, visit https://www.ufs.ac.za/rag or contact Esmé Wessels at WesselsE@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

Qwaqwa Campus launches transdisciplinary Afromontane Research Unit
2015-06-09

Dr Dipane Hlalele, Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Education on the Qwaqwa Campus; Dr Anofi Ashafa, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences on the Qwaqwa Campus; Prof Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research; Prof Sechaba Mahlomaholo, Dean in the Faculty of Education; Dr Geofrey Mukwada, Head of the Department of Geography; Dr Aliza le Roux, Head of the Department of Zoology and Entomology; Prof Prakash Naidoo, Campus Principal and Dr Elsa Crause, Academic Head on the Qwaqwa Campus.

The Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State in the Eastern Free State boasts of one of the most beautiful and distinctive surroundings that will play a crucial role in fostering research in the under-researched area of the montane communities. This was revealed during the recent launch of the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), the UFS flagship transdisciplinary research programme.

“This flagship programme has been in the making for about four years as our Qwaqwa Campus is set in a very interesting, unique, and mountainous place. The programme gained the momentum when the National Research Foundation (NRF) challenged each university to come up with their own single niche research area that would give them a unique research identity”, Prof Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research, said during the launch.

”The Unit will develop the campus’s research capacity as we have already seen a huge increase in the research outputs by Qwaqwa staff. The campus already has seven scholars in the Vice-Chancellor's Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP), and there is notable excitement here. The Afromontane Research Unit will add to that research excitement as well”, she added.

Prof Witthuhn revealed that an application for the funding of the ARU had already been submitted to the NRF, and a positive response was awaited.

The PSP is an accelerated scholarship of junior UFS researchers in their first five years post-PhD. The prestige scholars participate in an intensive programme of support that includes international placement and intensive mentoring.

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