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03 April 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Vhugala Nthakheni
Uhuru Qwaqwa Arrival
The #UFSWalkToUhuru team arrives at the UFS Qwaqwa Campus on Friday 22 March.

The University of the Free State (UFS) Division of Student Affairs, in collaboration with the UFS Office for International Affairs, have joined hands to drive a fundraising and student-accessibility initiative dubbed, ‘The Walk to Uhuru’ (#UFSWalktoUhuru), which is aimed at raising funds and advocating for the educational rights of the less privileged. 

The project aims to raise funds in excess of R2 million from the public and stakeholders affiliated with the UFS (Kovsie staff and students). The project derives from the 2018/2019 UFS Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) mandate ‘Students Must Graduate’. The ISRC mandate aims to source funding opportunities for UFS students to register, and to complete their studies across all three campuses in 2020 and beyond.

The first leg of the project, a 350 km walk from the Bloemfontein to the Qwaqwa Campus, has already taken place and concluded on Friday, 22 March 2019 as planned. The #UFSWalkToUhuru team successfully completed the first leg of their journey to academic freedom for financially disadvantaged students at the UFS. The Uhuru team is now focusing its attention on the second leg and is determined to take on Mount Kilimanjaro (Uhuru) from 20 June to 20 July 2019.

The team sat down for a debriefing session to unpack the overall experience and result of the first half of the initiative, and they all agreed that the walk to Qwaqwa was an enlightening experience. It was a walk that comprised learning opportunities, team building, and goal crushing.

According to Rethabile Motseki, member of the #UFSWalkToUhuru team, the walk to Qwaqwa made a significant impact on the project, as the university community is now aware of the significant goals that the team is trying to accomplish. The team has also resumed their fitness-training programme to ensure that they are ready to take on the Uhuru climb in June.

A media briefing will take place shortly (date to be confirmed) to detail the ongoing fundraising initiatives rolled out by the #UFSWalkToUhuru team.  We implore you, and the nation as a whole, to help establish a better future for disadvantaged UFS students by donating to the initiative.

Students, staff, and the public can support the cause and make contributions/donations to the initiative by visiting the UFS Walk to Uhuru #givengain account page.

For more information, contact UFS SRC President, Sonwabile Dwaba, on DwabaSJ@ufs.ac.za  or Rethabile Motseki on MotsekiR@ufs.ac.za  

News Archive

Esteemed international Council advises the UFS
2013-03-26

 

In front, from the left are: Prof Alice Pell, Vice-Provost for International Relations, Cornell University in the USA; Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS; Ms Jane Evans, Director of Ntataise Early Child Development Network Support Programme in South Africa; Mr Gert Grobler, Ambassador of South Africa to Madagascar and alumnus of the UFS. At the back, from the left are: Prof Joel Samoff, Professor in African Studies, Stanford University in the USA; Prof Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Institutional Affairs of the UFS; Prof Masafumi Nagao, Project Professor at the Graduate School for Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo; and Prof Akilagpa Sawyerr, former Secretary General of the Association of African Universities (AAU), Ghana. Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former Deputy President of South Africa, was absent when the photo was taken.
Photo: Sonia Small
27 March 2013

The International Advisory Council (IAC) of the University of the Free State (UFS) is visiting the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses this week as part of its biennial meeting with the university leadership. The Council, consisting of seven leading academics, business leaders and policy makers, are advising the leadership on how well we perform against international benchmarks in research, teaching, service and transformation. The Council also acts as advocates for the university in their own spheres of influence.


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