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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 academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages

2006-05-22

During the colloquium presented in Belgium by the Province Antwerp were from the left Prof Pol Cuvelier (University of Antwerp), Prof Theo du Plessis (Director: Unit for Language Management at the UFS), Mr Ludo Helsen (Permanent Deputy: Province of Antwerp) and Mr Jean-Pierre Rondas (Flemish radio journalist).

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UFS academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages at international conference

Prof Theo du Plessis, Director of the Unit for Language Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), was the main speaker at a colloquium titled “Routes: Where to now? - Een traject van het Nederlands naar het Afrikaans en de Afrikatalen”, which was recently presented by the Province Antwerp in Belgium.

The aim of the colloquium was to discuss the future cooperation in the field of language between the Province Antwerp and South Africa.

The Province Antwerp is already involved with projects in South Africa. One of these projects is the Multilingual Information Development Programme (MIDP), a partnership project between the UFS and the Free State Province that is mainly funded by the Province Antwerp.

The project has been running since 1999 and was recently in the news with the presentation of a symposium on multilingualism and exclusion on the Main Campus of the UFS. It is hoped that the Routes colloquium will indicate new stages on which can be added to the already successful cooperation in the area of language.

Prof Du Plessis’s presentation titled “Nederlands, Afrikaans en die Afrikatale – kan samewerking slaag? Die geval MIDP in die Vrystaat”, investigated the successes that have been made with the MIDP. He discussed two possible approaches to cooperation in the areas of language, that of a sentimentalistic approach against an instrumentalistic approach.

Cooperation in the first approach makes language the aim. In the second approach language is used as a means to a greater aim. According to Prof du Plessis the first approach is driven by a romantisised idea about the relation between the Flemish and Afrikaans speaking people, which may unfortunately polarise the position of Afrikaans in South Africa even further.

He argues that, given the time that we are in, the second approach will deliver more constructive results as language can among others be used for to further democracy in South Africa. This can happen by cooperation in the institutionalising of multilingualism in our society. The more languages are used in education, law and government administration, the more we can be assured a successful democracy.

The Routes colloquium was facilitated by the well-known Flemish radio journalist, Jean-Pierre Rondas. About twenty South African and Flemish language specialists took part in the colloquium. Dr Fritz Kok, outgoing chief executive officer of the ATKV took part in the opening ceremony and Dr Neville Alexander from the University of Cape Town and well-known activist for multilingualism in South Africa was also one of the main speakers.

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