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Postgraduate School welcomes Qwaqwa students

28 March 2019 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah

Postgraduate Student Council and SRC member, Teboho Mofokeng, says one degree is not enough.

Postgraduate studies play a crucial and critical role in the missions of our universities. They also contribute to the key and central mandate of the university – knowledge production, the dissemination, and application thereof.

The Campus Principal, Dr Martin Mandew, expressed this view during a welcoming function for postgraduate students on the Qwaqwa Campus. “Our Postgraduate School is the gateway that enables entry into higher degrees and qualifications. It is an extremely valuable resource and support reference point which is at the disposal of the students,” he said.

Postgraduate research and national development

Dr Mandew added that postgraduate research plays a very important role in national development, as it develops systematic investigation skills among young graduates for the purpose of making a contribution to what he termed ‘the national system of innovation’. “It also ensures that the country is competitive and enables the generation of knowledge that is responsive to societal needs, among others,” he said.

“Doing postgraduate studies is not easy,” he added. “Challenges that postgraduate students have to contend with, include funding and financial problems; lack of equipment; inadequate library facilities; access to research materials, and many more,” Dr Mandew said.

Support broadens knowledge and skills

In detailing the services offered by the Postgraduate School, the Director, Prof Witness Mudzi, assured students that they would experience an enabling environment to excel in the pursuit of their academic quests. “We will provide additional support to that provided by facilities and departments in the form of workshops, courses, and other presentations, which will equip the students with the requisite skills for successful completion of their postgraduate education.”

“The workshops and courses we offer are aimed at broadening your knowledge of research processes and methods. This would then positively influence throughput, publications, and the quality of research produced,” Prof Mudzi said to a packed venue.

Speaking on behalf of the SRC and the Postgraduate Student Council, Chairperson Teboho Mofokeng said that the event was held at a time when final-year students were asking themselves if it was worth continuing with postgraduate studies. “Do not take the decision to continue with your postgraduate studies lightly,” he said. “We work in a knowledge economy where specialised skills have significant commercial value. This means that in today’s competitive job market, it is often not enough to have only one degree,” said Mofokeng, a beneficiary of the school’s Mentorship Programme and master’s student specialising in Parasitology.

News Archive

UFS sets trend for higher education institutions

2005-09-21

The University of the Free State (UFS) offers more service-learning courses than any other higher education institution in the country and has the highest number of students enrolled for these service-learning courses.

This was the research findings on higher education institutions conducted between 2001 and 2004 by the Joint Education Trust (JET) into service-learning courses. These are courses which seek to integrate service to the community into the academic core of higher education institutions.

The results of this research indicated that the UFS is one of the few higher education institutions in South Africa that have made progress in integrating community engagement into the mainstream academy.

According to the findings 2 233 students at the UFS participated in service-learning courses supported by JET, while 858 students at the University of Transkei (UNITRA), 636 students at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and only 600 students at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) participated in service-learning courses.

In total there were 6 930 students participating in service learning courses supported by the JET at 10 institutions throughout the country.

The research also found that out of a total of 182 service-learning courses supported by JET countrywide, the UFS had the highest number of such courses at 42, followed by WITS with 28, the University of Kwazulu Natal with 26, UWC 24 and UNITRA with 22.

Nationally, most of the service-learning courses at higher education institutions are offered in the human sciences (62), followed by health sciences (37), education (26), agriculture (14), and economic sciences (11).

According to leading academics, service-learning is a credit-bearing, educational exercise in which students participate in an organised service activity that meets identified community needs and helps the student to gain a deeper understanding of course content and a sense of civic responsibility.

Reacting to the research findings, the Rector and Vice-chancellor of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie, said the university feels strongly that there should be integration of service-learning into the academic core of the institution.

“Through service-learning modules the UFS can give expression to its role of service to the community as an institution of higher learning, producing quality graduates who understand the communities in which they will have to function for the rest of their lives,” Prof Fourie said.

According to Mr Jo Lazarus, the project manager of the Community-Higher Education – Service Partnership (CHESP), which falls under the JET, a number of institutions have identified community engagement as a strategic priority and have allocated significant resources from their central budget towards its implementation.

Mr Lazarus said most students have an overwhelmingly positive attitude towards service learning.

“A large percentage of students surveyed indicated that their service-learning course helped to improve their relationship skills, leadership skills and project planning abilities. As significant is the fact that these courses also benefited them in terms of their awareness of cultural differences and opened their eyes about their own cultural stereotypes,” said Mr Lazarus.

“The key challenge still hampering the integration of service-learning as a core function of academic activity is that some institutions still see service-learning as an add-on, and nice-to-have activity,” he said.

According to Mr Lazarus higher education must demonstrate social responsibility and commitment to the common good by making available expertise and infrastructure for service-learning as a form of community engagement.

Media release
Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel: (051) 401-2584
   Cell: 083 645 2454
   E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
   20 September 2005

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