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Graduates to celebrate their achievements at 2019 December Graduations

13 November 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Sonia Small

During the upcoming graduation ceremonies, the University of the Free State (UFS) will confer a number of qualifications on the Bloemfontein Campus on 9, 10 and 11 December 2019 in the Faculties of Education; the Humanities; Law; Theology and Religion; Economic and Management Sciences; Natural and Agricultural Sciences; and Health Sciences. 517 National Professional Diplomas and Advanced Certificates will be awarded to students graduating from the UFS South Campus University Access Programme.

An additional 147 master’s and doctoral degrees will be conferred in the Faculties of Education, Economic and Management Sciences, Health Sciences, the Humanities, Law, and Theology and Religion.

For more information about the upcoming graduation ceremonies and events, visit the UFS graduation ceremonies page.

Graduates can read through the Bloemfontein Graduations: Preparing for Graduations - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), which contain the necessary information for graduates to note during the graduation processions.

Graduation ceremonies for the different faculties will take place on the following dates:

9 Dec 2019
14:30: South Campus: Open Distance Learning
Certificates and diplomas

10 Dec 2019
09:00: Faculties of Education, the Humanities, Law, and Theology and Religion
All certificates, diplomas, bachelor’s degrees, and honours degrees

14:30: Faculties of Economic and Management Sciences and Natural and Agricultural Sciences
All certificates, diplomas, bachelor’s degrees, and honours degrees

11 Dec 2019
09:00: Faculty of Health Sciences
All certificates, diplomas, bachelor’s degrees, and honours degrees

14:30: All Faculties
Master's and doctoral qualifications

News Archive

Judgement in the Supreme Court of Appeal about UFS Language Policy

2016-11-17

The University of the Free State (UFS) is pleased with the judgment handed down in the Supreme Court of Appeal this morning, relating to the university’s appeal against the implementation order granted on 12 September 2016 by the Full Bench of the Free State High Court. The implementation order barred the UFS from implementing its new Language Policy in 2017, pending the outcome of the appeal of the review application.

The Supreme Court of Appeal held that the application brought by AfriForum and Solidarity failed on a legal and factual level, and was misconceived. The court accordingly upheld the appeal by the UFS against the implementation order, setting aside the order, and directing that AfriForum and Solidarity pay the legal costs of the UFS in respect of both the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal proceedings pertaining to implementation.

The effect of today’s judgment is that the UFS may proceed to implement the new Language Policy in its pilot programme next year, pending the appeal of the review application which will only be heard early in 2017.

In March 2016, the Senate and then Council adopted with overwhelming majority a new Language Policy that strives to achieve multilingualism. The new policy entails English as primary medium of instruction, but with the introduction of a tutorial system in Afrikaans and progressively in Sesotho to support students’ learning in their first and second year of study.

The policy will be piloted in 2017 with first-year students in three faculties: Law, Health Sciences, and the Humanities. In these faculties, the majority of students indicated their preference to be taught in English. The Afrikaans-English policy will be maintained in the rest of the faculties in 2017 and phased out according to an implementation plan as from 2018.

Current registered students will be able to complete their studies in the language they selected upon registration.

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

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