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26 January 2019
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Story Lacea Loader
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The executive management of the University of the Free State (UFS) has noted with concern the disconcerting effects of the current political and economic crisis and instability in Zimbabwe – specifically with regard to the effect it has on its students from Zimbabwe.
“As part of a coordinated support effort driven by the UFS Office for International Affairs we have invited Zimbabwean students to communicate their individual challenges regarding finance, travel, and special examinations to us.
We have received various reports about problems with delayed visas and have appealed to the Department of Home Affairs to consider concessions for our affected Zimbabwean students,” says Mr Cornelius Hagenmeier, Director of the university’s Office for International Affairs.
Arrangements are being made on a case-by-case basis for students who were unable to register before the closing date. Students who have reported travel challenges are also being contacted individually to consider possible support.
“As an institution committed to the furtherance of social justice – not only on our campuses, but also in the wider Southern African region – the UFS wants to encourage our affected students not to abandon their all-important education plans in the light of the turmoil and obstacles they are currently facing. As a university community, our heartfelt sympathy goes to our Zimbabwean students and their families during these trying times,” says Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor.
Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Marketing)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393
School of Nursing receives a considerable grant
2011-06-01
Our School of Nursing once again became the proud recipient of a grant from the Atlantic Philanthropies, an international organization dedicated to “bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people”.
Atlantic Philanthropies granted millions of rands to South African nursing training institutions via University Based Nursing Education (UNEDSA), which will provide six recipient institutions the opportunity to transform nursing academic programmes in South Africa over a period of four years.
We recently received a R3 100 000 grant for the school to transform nursing scholarship and clinical practice. This is but the latest installment in a total grant of R16 million.
The School of Nursing, under the leadership of Prof. Anita van der Merwe, former Head of the School of Nursing, submitted a proposal to UNEDSA and was selected as one of the six recipients of the award. The school is now at the beginning of the third financial year of the project.
According to Dr Annali Fichardt from the School of Nursing, the school established a unique Virtual Health Teaching and Learning facility for training students in a non-threatening, simulated environment and to prepare nurses to be capable and to function optimally in the dynamic health-care environment. This provides opportunities for experimentation and sharing of integrated teaching and learning in nursing education.
The project helped establish a new unit for continuing professional development and research capacity development to serve practicing nurses and staff members of the School of Nursing. These initiatives will result in a fully transformed and accredited portfolio of programmes at undergraduate, post-basic and postgraduate levels to meet the needs of a range of health-care settings and learners.
The School of Nursing hopes to create an innovative teaching and learning environment that empowers students and professional nurses to become clinically excellent, able to practice independently in both resource-poor and technology-rich areas, and manage such complexities in an innovative way.