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14 June 2019 | Story Eloise Calitz
University Consortium Launch
From left: Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, University of the Free State; Prof Pagollang Motloba, Chairperson of the Universities Consortium Steering Committee (Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University); Ms Montseng Margaret Ts’Iu, MEC, Department of Health in the Free State Province; and Mr Dan Mosia, Project Management Unit, Wits Health Consortium and member of the UFS Council.
Access to health care is important to all South Africans. Improved delivery of health-care services and employment of health-care graduates is one of the key priorities of the Universities Consortium. To achieve this, the National Department of Health (NDoH) – through a closed bid – invited universities with health-science faculties to bid for the testing of contracting mechanisms in the public health-care sector.

The bid brought six universities together to form the Universities Consortium. Through a collaborative approach, they will implement the newly developed service-delivery model.  Within the next three years, the consortium aims to impact the communities they serve in a positive way by providing much needed health-care services across the nine provinces.

The Universities Consortium comprises:

• University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
• Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
• University of Fort Hare
• University of Pretoria
• Nelson Mandela University
• University of the Free State

The launch

The launch of the consortium was held on 6 June 2019 in the Centenary Complex at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. This provided an opportunity for fruitful engagements with representatives from the consortium. The launch was attended by the MEC of Health in  the Free State Province, Ms Montseng Margaret Ts’lu, who welcomed the commitment of the universities in the consortium and thanked them for lending a helping hand to make sure that government succeed in providing these health services.

Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, said the role of the university is to educate, train, and do continuous research to keep up to date with developments in various disciplines in order to enable positive change in the quality of life in our society. "Our knowledge should be used to impact our communities," Prof Petersen said. He further stated that it would be important that the ideas generated would provide much needed access to health care for all South Africans.

 The purpose of the Universities Consortium

1. The Universities Consortium will support national health delivery by assisting in the employment of graduates providing services while they complete their statutory internships/community service period.  
2. The consortium will also provide administrative and technical support to the NDoH. 
3. Universities will train professionals in accredited facilities.
4. The Universities Consortium proposed an operating model that will ensure the placement of health professionals in academic primary-care complexes.  
5. To align with the objectives of the NHI Bill 2018, the model envisages the academic primary-care complex as a contracting unit to promote sustainable, equitable, appropriate, efficient, and effective public funding for the purchasing of health-care services.
6. Wits Health Consortium (WHC), a wholly owned company of the University of the Witwatersrand, will support the Universities Consortium with key project management, financial, and administrative support for the duration of the project.

One of the key drivers of success for the Universities Consortium is collaboration and the effective implementation of this model. In the long term, the model will have a significant impact on health-care service delivery and job creation in this sector.

WATCH: NHI Universities Consortium Launch

News Archive

UFS changes format of graduation ceremony
2011-04-17

 

The highest number of qualifications in the history of the University of the Free State (UFS) will be awarded at the autumn diploma and graduation ceremony from 9-11 May 2011, which will be held in the Callie Human Centre on our Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

From this year, the format of the ceremony will change to make it more visible to students and the public. For the first time, all the doctoral and master’s degrees from each respective faculty will be conferred during one ceremony on 11 May 2011, instead of each faculty handling these qualifications individually. Another change in the format is that the procession will gather on the Red Square in front of the Main Building and move to the Callie Human Centre from there. Both academic staff and graduands will partake in the procession.

A total of 3 674 qualifications will be conferred during this year’s graduation ceremony, including 629 diplomas, 2 613 Bachelors and honours degrees, 372 master’s degrees and 58 doctorates.

An honorary doctorate in Drama and Theatre Arts will also be awarded to theatre stalwart Mr Pieter Fourie. He is one of the most acclaimed Afrikaans playwrights in South Africa and probably the only person to have left his mark as an actor, director, artistic director and writer.

Mr Fourie was awarded the Gerhard Beukes prize for drama , was honoured for his contribution to the arts by the South African Academy for Science and Arts and was appointed as trustee of the Arts and Culture Trust of the State President in 1997. He has also served as a committee member of the South African Academy for Science and Arts.

Mr. Fourie has also been the proud recipient of the Hertzog prize for drama, two FNB-Vita awards and a Fleur Du Cap award.
 

The full programme for the respective ceremonies is as follows:

  • Monday, 9 May 2011:

At 08:30, certificates and diplomas, excluding PGED and PGES, will be awarded to graduates from the Faculty of Education and at 12:00 PGED, PGED and B and honours degrees will be awarded to students from the same faculty. At 15:30 on the same day, certificates and B and honours degrees will be awarded to students in the Faculty of the Humanities.

At 19:00, the Faculties of Education, the Humanities and Economic and Management Sciences will have their prize-giving ceremonies for outstanding achievers.

  • Tuesday, 10 May 2011:

At 08:30, students in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences will graduate and at and 12:00 the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Science will join them. This includes students in BML, B.Admin., B.Pub. and related honours degrees. At 15:30, 503 students from the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences will receive their certificates, diplomas and B and honours degrees.

At 19:00, the Faculties of Health Sciences, Natural and Agriculture Sciences, Law and Theology will have their prize-giving ceremonies.

  • Wednesday, 11 May 2011:

The Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Theology will be awarding their certificates, diplomas and B and honours degrees at 08:30. At 12:00, all faculties will award a total of 372 master’s degrees and at 15:30 a total of 58 doctorates will be conferred.

The Chancellor’s Dinner will take place in the Centenary Complex on the Main Campus of the UFS at 19:00.

The graduation ceremony of our Qwaqwa Campus will take place in the Rolihlahla Mandela Hall on the Qwaqwa Campus on 7 May 2011 at 10:00. All the faculties at this campus will confer their degrees, certificates and diplomas at this ceremony.
 


Media Release
21 April 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

 

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