Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
29 May 2019 | Story Elize Davids
Prof Petersen at National Press Club
Prof Petersen with members of the Press Club’s National Executive. From the left are: Reynold Thakuli, SANPARKS; Willem van de Putte, Saturday Star; Ntando Makhubu, Pretoria News (Chairperson) Jos Charle, Pretoria News and Lisa Dewberry, Freelance Communications Specialist.
The South African National Press Club recently hosted the University of the Free State’s Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, at a gathering of national media representatives and communication specialists in Pretoria. Following a recent, widely publicised opinion article about the importance of the youth vote, Prof Petersen reflected on the period following the national elections of 8 May 2019, sharing his insights from a higher-education perspective.

“The role of the modern university has shifted”, said Prof Petersen, as he outlined five things the UFS was actively pursuing through its Strategic Plan and Integrated Transformation Plan.

New Knowledge

The UFS will develop a new knowledge (research) industry. For South Africa to yield economic growth, it must support the growth of small and medium enterprise. The institution has an active role to play in yielding this new knowledge as reflected in its recent launch of the Agribusiness Transformation Programme with Standard Bank; Applying our knowledge in the Natural and Agricultural Sciences and Business; we will equip and empower 25 black commercial farmers in addressing food insecurity.  The annual Thought-Leadership Series during the Vrystaat Arts Festival in July 2019 will also address economic growth, entrepreneurship, and employment.

Practical Application 

“Once we have trained people for the economy and have delivered research, we must ensure that our knowledge is appropriately disseminated technical academic papers need to be converted to something useful, appropriate, and practically applicable”, he said. 

Public Discourse 

Creating a platform to address controversial issues in our society is what defines the UFS as a thought leader.  As demonstrated by the recent Gangster State Book Discussion by author Pieter-Louis Myburgh hosted by the Business School, the institution continues to demonstrate its’ commitment to intellectually engage society through public discourse. 

Projects 

The institution actively pursues interesting projects that will shift the thinking of general society, government and industry. “These address our response to transformation, informs strategic planning, and shapes our values as we create a new university citizenship – a transformed society of inclusivity and belonging,” he said. 

News Archive

First lecture in Law Dean's series presented
2010-10-22

Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the UFS and Prof. Johan Farrar, a well respected Corporate Law Specialist, at the recent first lecture in the Law Dean’s Prestige Lecture Series.
Photo: Lize du Plessis
Prof. John Farrar, a well respected Corporate Law Specialist of high international repute, delivered the first lecture in the Law Dean’s Prestige Lecture Series at the University of the Free State (UFS). The theme of his paper was Directors’ duties of care – Issues of classification, solvency and business judgement and the dangers of legal transplants.

The topic is of the utmost importance to South African lawyers in view of the very contentious provisions of the new Companies Act 71 of 2008 endeavouring to introduce the business judgement rule into South African Company Law if and thus reforming company directors’ common law duties of care and skill, if when this legislation at long last becomes operative.

Prof. Farrar is a professor of Corporate Governance at the University of Auckland Business School, and joint director of the New Zealand Governance Centre. These are part-time roles and the remainder of his time is spent as emeritus professor of Law at Bond University, Queensland.

Prof. Farrar has extensive experience in Commercial Law Reform, having, for example, acted as a consultant to the New Zealand Treasury, the Law Commission, the Business Council of Australia and the UK Department of Trade and Industry.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept