Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
02 July 2019 | Story Eloise Calitz | Photo Keagan Nkwaira
Entrepreneurship Intravarsity
Audience members listening attentively to the presentations at the Entrepreneurship Inter-varsity on the Bloemfontein Campus.

The UFS continuously creates opportunities for students to develop and explore platforms where they can showcase their talents and share their innovative concepts. In the light of this, it is important for the institution to become a preferred academic knowledge partner that can conceptualise, develop, and successfully commercialise research activities, and through this foster an innovative and entrepreneurial culture that aligns to its Integrated Transformation Plan.

This is why opportunities such as the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity Competition are so important, since it encourages students to demonstrate their entrepreneurial talent, and through this connect with investors and industry leaders to start up a business.

The competition

Student entrepreneurs across the 26 public universities in South Africa were invited to submit their innovative ideas as part of a competition supported by Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE), in collaboration with the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation. The opportunities created through this initiative are twofold:

     1. For student entrepreneurs to present their innovative ideas and businesses. 
     2. For universities to demonstrate their entrepreneurial talent and the ways in which              they support and grow the next generation of business leaders.

The competition takes place in five stages. The process started with each student submitting their short videos and applications on the official competition site. Each institution also had the opportunity to select student entrepreneurs to take part in the competition. Fifteen students pitched their ideas during internal rounds at the UFS on 30 May 2019. Of these students, four were selected to represent the UFS at the regional rounds of the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity, where the finalists will be chosen. 

The students were judged in four categories:
• Category 1: Innovative Ideas
• Category 2: Tech Businesses (existing businesses, formal or informal, undergrad or postgrad)
• Category 3: Social Impact Businesses (existing businesses, formal or informal, undergrad or postgrad)
• Category 4: General (existing businesses, formal or informal, undergrad or postgrad)

The following UFS entrants were selected to take part in the regional finals: 
• Christopher Rothman for his liquid yeast culture that can be used in the fermentation of beer. 
• Driaan-Lou Kemp for his patented water-saving device. 
• Grace Mthembu for her electricity-saving system.
• Martin Clarke for his idea to use drone technology for the mining industry


News Archive

Prof Beatri Kruger conducts research on modern-day slavery
2014-12-12

 

Representatives of the US Embassy in South Africa and other stakeholders gathered in Bloemfontein in November 2014.
From the left are: San Reddy and Chad Wessen from the US Embassy, Prof Beatri Kruger, and Palesa Mafisa, Chairperson of the Kovsie National Freedom Network.

Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar ‘business’ with daunting challenges because of the uniqueness and complexities involved in the crime, says Prof Beatri Kruger, ex-prosecutor and lecturer in Criminal Law in the Faculty of Law.

Prof Kruger’s on-going research concentrates on whether South Africa’s legal efforts to combat human trafficking complies with international standards set out in the United Nations Trafficking Protocol of 2000 and other relevant international treaties.

Since the completion of her studies, the Prevention and Combatting of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2013 was passed in Parliament, but needs to be promulgated. This means South Africa is still a long way from complying with the UN protocol. A delegation of the US Embassy in South Africa recently visited the Faculty of Law on the Bloemfontein Campus. The purpose of their visit was to gain information for the US Department of State’s comprehensive 2015 report on trafficking in persons.

Prof Kruger’s current research focuses on the new legislation in collaboration with other national and international stakeholders. One of the focus areas is how traffickers control their victims. This research enhances the understanding of why victims often do not seek help, do not want to be ‘rescued’ and why they return to the very traffickers who have brutally exploited them.

The recently released Global Slavery Index 2014 estimates that 36 million people are living as slaves worldwide and that 106 000 of them are in South Africa. This report states that ‘modern slavery’ includes human trafficking, forced labour, forced marriage, debt bondage and the sale of children. The International Labour Organization estimates the illicit profits of forced labour to be US $150 billion a year.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept