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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

Nadine Gordimer lauds university for transformation
2012-11-09

Nadine Gordimer
Photo: Sonia Small
09 November 2012

Lecture (Pdf format)

Renowned writer and Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer has lauded the university for its efforts at reconciliation, highlighting several initiatives the university has put in place over the last few years.

She delivered the inaugural Reconciliation Lecture on the Bloemfontein Campus, and was introduced as a “champion of human oneness” by Prof. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Senior Research Professor on Trauma, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, who also referred to Gordimer as “the living expression of the power of critical consciousness”.

Gordimer praised the university by saying it was doing things in South Africa differently from what had been done during the country’s shameful past. In a message addressed at students, her lecture touched on topics of race, reconciliation, freedom of expression, education, inequality and poverty.

“Black and white – we have been conditioned; no, brain-washed, by legal and cultural and even religious, demeaning distinctions between race and colour. This university has discarded; is tackling these: an image breaking of false consciousness. We await your generation’s entry to public life, when you come out of the University of the Free State equipped to bring to us, along with your professional degrees, the way to function in a population as the human beings you have learnt to be at this university.”

The Nobel laureate also warned students of threats facing South Africa’s future.

“What is your reaction, then, to the Protection of State Information Act, the Secrecy Act that has been drop on our heads? The Secrecy Act means that we the people are not allowed to know the facts about our own country. Know how our society, our population is manoeuvred by those entrusted and empowered by our votes.”

The inaugural lecture was hosted by the Vice-Chancellor and Rector, prof. Jonathan Jansen, and the Rectorate, with the support of the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice and Prof. Gobodo-Madikizela.

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