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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

Prestige Scholars Programme invests in promising academics
2015-06-24

Photo: Sonia Small

Whilst many academics find it challenging to have sustainable funding for specific projects, it is often just as challenging to find relevant exposure and good mentorship programmes to fully prepare academics toward becoming full professors.

Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, designed the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP) specifically targeting newly-completed post-doctoral students who are already members of the academic staff.

The goal is to select the most promising young scholars and to make substantial institutional investment in their development.

To date, the PSP has produced 2 Fulbright scholars; 10 National Research Foundation (NRF) rated scholars; 1 NRF Blue Skies research project and 14 NRF Thuthuka-funded projects. These scholars work with the best academics at leading universities on three continents.

Prof Jackie du Toit, co-director of the programme, explains that while the PSP does not provide funding, it is a great programme to empower scholars by means of assistance towards generating funding from outside sources.

Prof Du Toit co-directs this programme with Proff Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research and Niel Roos from the Department of Africa Studies.

“The PSP bases its approach to funding on the philosophy that young scholars are to be encouraged towards financial independence, based on a viable postdoctoral project that would sustain their scholarship for five to eight years post PhD. We believe that the cachet and long-term sustainability of existing funding programmes such as Fulbright outweighs the short-term benefits of automatic funding from the PSP. We also endeavour to teach young scholars to work cleverly within institutional parameters, rather than leave them floundering once they step off the active PSP.”

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