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15 March 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
IAC members
The IAC from left; Dr Ivor Zwane, Reneë Beck, Gus Silber, Luhlumelo Toyana, Dr Adri van der Merwe, Nick Efstathiou, Avela Ntsongelwa, Prof Colin Chasi, HOD Communication Department, Alzane Narrain, Nomvo Bam and Dr Gustav Puth.

Building ties with industry experts provides greater prospects for bursaries, prizes for top students, as well as informal internships. This is why the Department of Communication Science at the University of the Free State (UFS) took the bold and commendable step of soliciting the expertise of an Industry Advisory Council (IAC).

“As a department we believe it is important to stay in touch with the industry to ensure that we, and the work we do, stays relevant in order to increase the chances of making our students preferred candidates in the workplace,” said Dr Adri van der Merwe, lecturer at the department.

The advisory panel consisted of Reneë Beck, founder and CEO of Pink Lemon; Nick Efstathiou, newly appointed CEO of Central Media Group; DDr Ivor Zwane, chairman of the board for Small to Medium Enterprise Development; education journalist Gus Silber; journalist Alzane Narrain; Dr Gustav Puth, Academic Director of Post-Graduate Executive Education at Monash South Africa; photographer Luhlumelo Toyana; Avela Ntsongelwa,master's student and Nomvo Bam.

The initiative also created a platform for the students to engage with IAC members. The Department hosted the IAC on 6 March 2019 on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.

Advice to assist in improving curriculum

“The IAC members’ feedback will influence our curriculum, both in the short term when we begin to shift emphasis on certain matters, as well as in the longer term when we replace or expand on specific modules,” Van der Merwe said.

The advice given by IAC members will be taken very seriously. “We have captured all their input on video, and will now, in preparation for our strategic planning session later this year, analyse and prioritise the actions we need to implement their proposals.” she said. The students are also represented on the IAC in order to hear and take into consideration what the students have to say about how the curriculum can be improved to prepare them more effectively for the workplace. 

The department plan on hosting the IAC yearly.

News Archive

New SRC Sport talks about campus pride
2014-10-21

Media Studies and Journalism student, Dominique de Gouveia, can attest to the fact that you need to take all the small steps before you make the giant leap.

As Residence Committee member for Sport since her first year, Dominique found the transition to the Student Representative Council (SRC) merely a case of now putting on the striped blazer. Having worked closely with Lourika Hugo, previous SRC Sport, there was not really much that she had to take grasp of.

“Our varsity has almost the same sport fixtures every year, so once you understand it, it should not be that difficult to follow through,” says Dominique confidently.

“You need to set goals in order to achieve them. I quickly realised that this is what I want to do. Sport is very big on our campus among the students and in my term I want other channels to realise the importance of sport.”

“The motto of previous SRC Sport, Tshepo Moli, was ‘transformation in sport’, which can indeed make a social impact on our varsity.”

“Through sport, our varsity can take pride in showing diversity.”

The variety of sports Dominique enjoys playing and watching, shows just how much she really loves what she is doing.

“My favourite sports have to be soccer and squash. But after watching the Varsity Netball this season, it made me wish that I had learnt how to play netball as far back as high school.”

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