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UFS talks Open Access 2020

28 November 2019 | Story Legopheng Maphile | Photo Supplied

The Library and Information Services of the University of the Free State (UFS) and the Central University of Technology,Free State (CUT) jointly hosted an Open Science Colloquium on 19 November 2019. The colloquium was in response to the national and international developments in what is referred to as ‘the Open Access 2020 (OA2020) movement’. This movement calls on all parties involved in scholarly communication to take action to make their scholarly outputs open and freely available to all citizens of the world. It is a move against the current subscription-based model of publication, which has proved to be costly and unsustainable, and which limits access to knowledge to a few, making it unacceptable.

Welcoming more than 200 delegates to the UFS, Ms Betsy Eister, Director: Library and Information Services, referred to OA2020 as a disruption in the publishing arena.

Endorsing the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities

The colloquium comes as an endorsement of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities that the two universities signed eight years ago. As signatories, the UFS and CUT have committed to the wide and free dissemination of its scholarship by means of open access platforms. This declaration was confirmed by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen.

“When the UFS signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities in 2011, this university committed itself to the wide and free dissemination of its scholarship by means of open access platforms. At that point, we have already made that commitment to open access platforms.”

Open access vs subscription

Prof Petersen said challenging the current status quo will bring equity into the system, which will “ensure that our younger cohort of researchers and scholars have the ability to freely conduct research, to freely access material, so that we can produce high-quality researchers and scholars for our system”.

Also present was Prof Ahmed Bawa, Chief Executive Officer of Universities South Africa, who echoed Prof Petersen’s message by making a case for management, researchers, libraries and research funders to work together to make OA2020 a reality. “These discussions are very important because it provides us with an opportunity to build international consensus on these things, which is critical in moving forward.”

Prof Ahmed Bawa, Chief Executive Officer of Universities South Africa addressed delegates on the importance of open access.

Mr Glenn Truran, Director of the South African Library and Information Consortium (SANLiC), and Ms Eister addressed the national and local roadmaps, respectively. SANLiC, a consortium that negotiates deals for electronic resource subscriptions on behalf of all 26 public universities and eight research councils, has already started transformative agreement negotiations with international publishing company Taylor and Francis.

The colloquium ended with a declaration signed by members present, hoping that it would be signed by all concerned as a commitment to taking action towards open access. The two universities will ultimately sign the OA2020 Expression of Interest.

• The UFS and CUT Libraries are thankful to Mr Gareth O’Neill and UFS colleagues (Mr Charlie Molepo and Mrs Cornelle Scheltema-Van Wyk), who shared information with the attendees on transformation agreements (also referred to as Plan S) and AmeliCA, respectively. Plan S deals with transformation agreements to be signed with publishers, which are about negotiations with publishers to change from subscription-based to open-access journal publishing models. Mr Molepo and Mrs Scheltema-Van Wyk showcased the open access model that the UFS Library has already implemented, which is what AmeliCA is all about. This involves the publication of nine accredited UFS journals on the Open Journals System platform, which enhance its discoverability and accessibility. It was also a pleasure to listen to Prof Abdon Atangana from the UFS Institute for Groundwater Studies – a classic example of an activist and beneficiary of open access publishing – who was recently named as one of the top-10 cited researchers in the Web of Science, thanks to open access publication.

Betsy Eister, Director: Library and Information Services at the UFS.

News Archive

The solution to student food insecurity is a holistic approach

2017-02-10

Description: Dietetics read more Tags: Dietetics read more

Dr Louise van den Berg from the Department of
Nutrition and Dietetics says the University of the Free State
is taking steps to teach students how to budget and make
them aware how important food nutrition is.
Photo: Pixabay

Research at the University of the Free State (UFS) has indicated that nearly 60% of students are victims of food insecurity and suffer from hunger most of the time. The research by the UFS Faculty of Health Sciences shows that a further 25% are food insecure but are not hungry most of the time.

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dr Louise van den Berg, says food insecurity is common among student populations across the world. However, local research shows that it is almost double that of tertiary institutions in developed countries.

Food insecurity among students caught many people off-guard
Dr Van den Berg says in South Africa nobody had really looked at the problem until recently “It seems student food insecurity has caught many people off-guard.” She says people tend to think of tertiary students as a privileged group.

The research has now indicated how deep the problem really is on campus. The students that most likely go hungry are single, male, black or coloured, and are generally first-generation students.

They are also mostly undergraduates, those paying their studies from non-bank loans or bursary means, those not living with their parents or guardians or those that need to support somebody else financially.

The results further indicate that those that are likely to suffer from hunger seldom or never have enough money for food but have to borrow money for food, have to ask for food, sell items to get food or steal food.

“A healthy student is a
successful student.”

Bursary money send back home for parents to survive
Dr Van den Berg agrees that one of the main reasons for the situation is economic stress. Research has shown students rarely spend money on food when resources are scarce. Furthermore, parents of students studying with bursaries are not always able to fully support them on campus. Some students send bursary money back home for their parents to survive.

She says other factors that contribute to campus food insecurity are that all over the world universities have terminated catered food halls due to high costs. “To a large extent this has created a food desert for students and now they need to look after themselves.”

To throw money at the problem does not seem to be the answer.

Students are food-uncertain beings
The research indicates that young people on campus do not know where to buy food, much less the correct, nutritional food they need. Dr Van den Berg says most universities are now aware of the problem and have been taking steps. This includes teaching students how to budget and making them aware how important nutrition is for their success and their responsibility for themselves.

Universities are also looking at private funding for food aid and food schemes. Dr Van den Berg says other solutions are the restructuring of bursary fees, student self-help initiatives and food gardens.

The Faculty of Health Sciences is taking the initiative to manage a food blog on the UFS website. It will also use other social media platforms to post food-preparation videos and recipes for students.

Dr Van den Berg says it is important to grow the 15.6% group of students who indicated they are food secure because a healthy student is a successful student.

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