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07 May 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Charl Devenish
Noko Masalesa
Noko Masalesa, Director of Protection Services, in conversation with students and stakeholders to plan a safe way forward.

Safety and security are human rights that constitute social justice. At the centre of the agenda at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Social Justice Week held on the Bloemfontein Campus from 17-22 April 2019 were discussions about off-campus safety. Stakeholders agreed on an upgrade to security measures in order to ensure the success and wellbeing of the student population.

A call to students

Prof John Mubangizi, Dean of the Faculty of Law, in his capacity as representative of the UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, expressed his view on institutions of higher learning no longer functioning as ivory towers. “For any initiative to succeed, collaboration is necessary between key roleplayers,” he said.

He aptly pointed out that: “We cannot underscore the importance of safety and security, not only for the university but also for the communities around us. What the university does benefits the community and vice versa. I pledge the university’s commitment to play a leading part to ensure that the collaboration works,” said Prof Mubangizi.

Beefing up security: Who is involved?

In view of the collaborative effort Prof Mubangizi alluded to, the engagement was twofold. First was the roundtable discussion facilitated by Protection Services which then escalated into a public dialogue where students had the opportunity to interact with external delegates.

The South African Police Services, Community Police Forum, Private Security, Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Provincial Commissioner, and Deputy Minister of Police were well represented in this critical conversation. Internally, members of Protection Services, Housing and Residence Affairs, Student Affairs, Institute for Social Justice and Reconciliation, Student Representative Council, and the Department of Criminology heard the plight of off-campus safety faced by students.

Changes in the horizon

The discussions culminated with recommendations which will see the future of student safety take a different direction. According to Skhululekile Luwaca, former SRC president, these include “the municipality’s commitment to immediately address issues such as street lights and enforcing by-laws, ensuring an integrated accreditation system, and drafting a policy for off-campus accommodation, running more crime awareness campaigns, and giving police patrols more visibility.”

In addition to resolving to set up a student safety forum with all the stakeholders, the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality has invited the UFS to join Reclaim the City – a safety forum where practical solutions to crime are devised and implemented on a weekly basis.


News Archive

Achievement for Accounting students
2013-05-08

 

Infront: Richard Yang (2013 Academic Clerk), Raymond Cramer (2013 Academic Clerk), Me Jana Lamprecht (Lecture), Prof RonellBritz (Chairperson: Centre for Accounting), Me LizelleBruwer (Lecture), Prof HendriKroukamp (Dean: Faculty of Economic and Management Science), ThembiKganane (2013 Academic Clerk).
Back: Prof CobusRossouw (Lecture), Mr KobusSwanepoel (Lecture), Prof Hentie van Wyk (Program Director: Centre for Accounting) and Robert Bode (2013 Academic Clerk)

08 May 2013

The B Acc Honours students of the Centre for Accounting have done very well in the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) examination of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), when 60 out of 65 students passed. It represents a pass rate of 92%. The overall average pass rate nationally is 74% and 86% for those who wrote the professional examination for the first time.

The Centre for Accounting achieved an average pas s rate of 81% over the last three years. Up till now it is the largest number of UFS students that passed the professional examination in one year. The highest pass rate was achieved in 2008 when 95% of the UFS students passed.

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