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09 January 2019 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah
Ntebohiseng Sekhele Read More
Ntebohiseng Sekhele hopes her PhD study will address conservation conflicts that exist between communities and protected areas.
The University of the Free State’s Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) based on the Qwaqwa Campus has recently concluded the process of recruiting candidates for the University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP). Through this programme, two historically disadvantaged South African universities; Universities of the Free State (Qwaqwa Campus) and Venda (UNIVEN) and three universities in the United States will be collaborating on a number of PhD research projects.

“The programme is funded through the US-SA Higher Education Network and will give candidates and their supervisors the opportunity to regularly travel to the USA and spend time at participating US universities where their co-promoters will be based and allow them to collaborate with identified suitable academics based at those institutions,” said Prof Geofrey Mukwada, Associate Professor in Geography and the coordinator of the project.

One of the young academics selected for this is Ntebohiseng Sekhele from the Geography Department. She will be doing her research in collaboration with the Colorado State University.

“I am delighted to be part of this programme and it still feels like a dream. I feel honored to be selected to participate in such a prestigious programme. To be chosen amongst other applicants means the coordinators believe in my potential, and I look forward to working towards my full potential,” said Sekhele, who describes herself as ‘a simple and ambitious village girl from Monontsha in Qwaqwa.’ 

Sekhele’s proposed PhD study will focus on determining strategies and impacts of conservation practices by the local communities. “It will address conservation conflicts that exist between communities and protected areas; different interpretations of sustainability (including indigenous knowledge) and offer recommendations of harmonising the conservation practices with the sustainability of conservation areas. There is a great need to develop management strategies that will simultaneously satisfy conservation and human needs. She will be graduating with an MSc (Environmental Geography) degree in 2019.

Other US universities involved in the UCDP are Appalachian State University (ASU) and University of Montana (UoM).

News Archive

Prof Annie van den Oever envisions the future of film and visual media in her inaugural lecture
2014-02-07

The university formally welcomed Prof Annie van den Oever, an internationally-recognised film and media scholar, within its academic ranks. Her association with the UFS forms part of an exciting new postgraduate programme in film and visual media being created by the Faculty of the Humanities.

Prof Annie van den Oever delivered her inaugural lecture, “Foundational Questions for a Film and Visual Media Programme”, sharing her extensive knowledge in the field. The lecture attracted an international audience with people following the talk via live streaming from places such as Oslo, Berlin and London.

“Annie is quite a connected person through the film and visual media world,” Prof Lucius Botes, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, told the audience in the CR Swart Auditorium. He also referred to the fact that, under the auspices of Prof Van den Oever, two staff members from the faculty completed their master’s degrees at the University Groningen where she also teaches. “I am happy to announce that through Annie’s network we can invest in these young people.”

Prof Suzanne Human, Head of the Department History of Art, applauded the senior leadership for its vision to appoint Prof Van den Oever as extraordinary professor. “We have profoundly benefited and will still benefit from Annie’s obvious enjoyment in sharing her considerable experience and expertise in the design of a programme of film and media studies.”

The new postgraduate programme in film and visual media is being developed in partnership with the departments of Art History and Visual Culture Studies, Drama and Theatre Arts, English and the Department of Afrikaans, Dutch, German and French. The university aims to have the first film students enrol in 2015.

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