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24 January 2019 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Sonia Small
Dr Engela van Staden
Dr Engela van Staden started as Vice-Rector: Academic on 1 January 2019.
The Executive Committee of the Council (on behalf of Council) of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the appointment of Dr Engela van Staden as Vice-Rector: Academic during a meeting held on 5 December 2018. She started on 1 January 2019 as Vice-Rector: Academic (designate) and will take up the position from 1 February 2019 as Vice-Rector:  Academic. Prof Hendri Kroukamp, who acted in the position of Vice-Rector: Academic, will resume his portfolio as Dean: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences on 1 February 2019. 

“Dr Van Staden has an immense knowledge of the higher-education system, governance, planning, and policy frameworks within the sector, and of enrolment planning and management, and will provide leadership within this domain. She has been in senior management positions at faculty, institutional, and national level for a period of 20 years and is one of the experts in academic-programme development and curriculum design in the country. I look forward to working with her and welcoming her to the university,” says Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.
 
Dr Van Staden holds a DPhil in Education from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg). She was Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching, Learning and Community Engagement at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University. Prior to this she was, among others, Chief Director: University Academic Planning and Management Support at the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) from 2009 to 2017, Director: Strategic Management Support at Tshwane University of Technology from 2004 to 2009, Dean: Faculty of Education and Director: Strategic Planning at the then Technikon Northern Gauteng from 1996 to 2003. 
 
Her responsibilities at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University included teaching and learning, quality assurance, strategic and academic planning, technology and education innovation, planning and reporting for and on earmarked and development grants, curriculum reviews, infrastructure planning, blended learning, and the redesign of the university’s business model.
 
In the portfolio of Chief Director: University Academic Planning and Management Support at the DHET, she was responsible for, among others, the national enrolment targets of 2013 and 2019, and institutional performance targets aligned to the Minister’s performance targets, the management and approval of all national programme applications, the development of the distance policy for universities / open learning strategy, the monitoring of universities under administration, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget allocations to universities, the planning and establishing of new universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape with specific reference to the academic programmes and governance and policy environment, and the establishment of the Central Application System (CAS) and Service and Clearing House Mechanism (CACH), which includes a project management office, business architecture and the formulation of proposals towards the governance and management of such a function.
 
She has supervised master’s and doctoral students, authored and co-authored a number of academic articles, compiled a vast array of technical reports, and participated in a wide variety of national and international projects in South Africa and abroad.

News Archive

UFS outlines research achievements
2011-09-02

 

At the launch of the 2010 Annual Research Report, were from the left: Mr Robert Kriger, the director for Policy and Strategy at the National Research Foundation (NRF); Prof. Driekie Hay, Vice-Rector: Academic and Prof. Frans Swanepoel, Senior Director: Research Development.
Photo: Stephen Collett

The University of the Free State (UFS) is well on course for delivery on its most important academic duty as a research university. This was the message that came forward at the launch of the 2010 Annual Research Report of the UFS on 30 August 2011.

Speakers at the launch, which included Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, as well as Prof. Driekie Hay, Vice-Rector: Academics outlined the key strategies and achievements of the UFS for the 2010 academic year. This included the establishment of a Postgraduate School at the UFS, the first of its kind at a public university in South Africa. Prof. Hay told guests that the aim of the Postgraduate School was to broaden research and deepens scholarship on postgraduate education in the country. She highlighted some initiatives the UFS undertook in 2010 to build and maintain its intellectual capital. Some of these initiatives included the appointment of seven senior professors and recruiting more female and black scholars and academics.   
Also speaking at the event was Mr Robert Kriger, the director for Policy and Strategy at the National Research Foundation (NRF). Kriger reflected on the brilliant minds of scholars such as Archie Mafeje, Lewis Nkosi and Dennis Brutus and argued for efforts to increase the country’s research output.
Some highlights of the 2010 Annual Research Report:
  • The total funding available for research at the UFS increased from approximately R199 million in 2009 to just over R210 million in 2010. A total of R31.8 million was made available from central university funds.
  • In 2010 the UFS was home to 92 NRF-rated researchers. During 2010, four researchers applied for re-evaluation and of these, two improved their rating, while a further five received a first-time rating.
  • The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences continue to be the most prolific producer of publications in accredited journals, while the Faculty of Education has shown a 54% increase in its publication output.
  • Staff members in the Physics department at the UFS Qwaqwa Campus published 22 papers in international peer-reviewed journals during 2010.
  • Also at the Qwaqwa Campus: Ms Khethiwe Mtshali,a postgraduate student in the parasitology research unit of the Department of Zoology and Entomology, received a best Honours presenter award at the 1st Annual Research symposium of the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa.

 

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