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21 May 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Charl Devenish
Bloem Campus Open Day 2019
2020 Prospective Students get a taste of varsity life at UFS Bloemfontein Campus Open Day.

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Matric learners from all over South Africa, together with their parents, teachers, and some Grade 11 learners, attended the University of the Free State (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus 2019 Open Day on 11 May, to investigate whether the UFS can meet their expectations and spark a dream concerning their careers.

A glimpse of what prospective first-years can expect in 2020

The UFS has seven faculties: Economic and Management Sciences, Education, Health Sciences, the Humanities, Law, Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Theology and Religion, and an additional Open and Distance Learning on its South Campus, and the Business School. On Open Day, learners had the opportunity to attend faculty exhibitions offering course information, teaching aids, models, and much more, demonstrating the high calibre of teaching and learning facilities at the UFS, as well as innovation and technology-based education. Learners were also exposed to interaction with academics and the deans of the faculties, motivational talks by senior students in the respective faculties, as well as members from the Student Representative Council (SRC), Kovsie FM, Student Wellness, the UFS Student Library, and Student Recruitment Services.

Why study at the UFS?

According to an honours lecturer in the UFS Department of Architecture (Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences), the UFS, just like any other South African university, would be an obvious choice of study for students interested in architecture, because it is accredited by the South African Council for the Architectural Profession, as well as internationally. However, what sets the UFS apart, is the fact that lecturers have close working relationships with their students in the department, allowing them to track and understand their students’ work, academic progress, and skills development. The Department of Architecture, just like other departments in the seven faculties of study offered at the UFS, pride themselves on selecting top-tier learners to pursue their studies and moulding them into competitive professionals who will thrive in the working world. 

The UFS prides itself on being a research-led, student-centred, and regionally engaged university that aims to produce globally competitive graduates through a renewed and transformed curriculum.
 
Seventeen-year-old Zwelethu Ndabezitha from Phoenix in KwaZulu-Natal, who wants to become a quantity surveyor, said: “I want to apply everything I’ve learned into rebuilding and transforming my home town”. Learners such as Zwelethu stand a chance to realise their dreams and develop by means of dynamic scientific education, as well as independent and critical thought-enhancing education provided by the UFS.

For more information about pursuing studies at the UFS, visit the UFS prospective students’ website where learners can also apply online.

 

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Regional winner designing her way to Architectural Student of the Year Award
2016-03-09

Description: Corobrik award Tags: Corobrik award

Musa Shangase, Corobrik Commercial and Marketing Director, and Nilene van Niekerk.

For 29 years, Corobrik has been celebrating the most outstanding architectural talent in South Africa. This year, Nilene van Niekerk – a master’s graduate of the University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Architecture – features as one of the regional winners.

Deciding on a dissertation topic, Nilene contemplated how she could use architecture as a tool to address a non-architectural contemporary problem specific to post-apartheid democratic South Africa. Her answer was born from her passion for freedom of speech. “Freedom of speech and the intimidation of journalists by the controversial Secrecy Bill were at the forefront these past few years,” Nilene says. “Although freedom of expression are generally protected practices in South Africa’s constitution, the persistent role of the government to protect state information is a substantial threat to citizens’ constitutional right of freedom of expression.”

This resulted in Nilene’s dissertation topic, Freedom of Expression Forum. This architectural concept envision a building, in the vicinity of Constitutional Hill, that symbolises protest against the Secrecy Bill. The building will provide “protection to journalists and become a pivotal point where classified information can be sent and archived. It will also establish a public space that encourages communication – all in the name of fostering the right of freedom of expression within this human rights precinct,” Nilene says.

Nilene will now go on to compete for the national title at the Corobrik Student Architect of the Year Awards in Johannesburg in May 2016.

“The project also rethinks the idea of sustainability as it focuses on how to contribute to a sustainable political future in South Africa. I believe that we as architects, especially in a third world country, should think beyond the normative boundaries of sustainability,” Nilene says.

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