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MICT SETA gives UFS Journalism students a stepping stone

07 October 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin

MICT Seta Grant — The MICT SETA Journalism programme will give addition training to 20 Journalism students from the Department of Communication Science.

Student success is one of the key components in the Integrated Transformation Plan. Facilitated by a grant from the Media Information and Communication Technologies (MICT) SETA, the Department of Communication Science at the University of the Free State (UFS) is providing an additional training opportunity for its students with a programme for second-year journalism students.

The MICT SETA Journalism Short Programme is a prestigious extracurricular opportunity. “The programme will provide additional exposure and training in specialist areas not necessarily covered in depth as part of the BA (Journalism) degree,” says Dr Willemien Marais, Programme Director: Communication Science. “Participation in this programme provides students the opportunity to build a portfolio to enhance their employability.”

The SETA grant was acquired through an application made by the department with the assistance of Juanita Burjins Head: Leadership and Development Unit in the Human Resources Department at the UFS, and was signed earlier this year.

In-depth training

The programme will entail short courses on writing, photojournalism, documentary filmmaking, entrepreneurship and personal development.
“It gives us an opportunity to swim in an ocean where it feels you are drowning. I am very excited to have been chosen to be part of the programme,” says.Rene Robinson, a second-year Journalism student and one of 20 selected for the programme. They were selected based on academic performance as well as on the essay they wrote.

Robinson says: “As a Journalism student you meet a lot of negativity about the degree you are pursuing and this programme offers a chance to elevate yourself.”
Keamogetswe Mosepele, who is also part of the programme, adds: “I am really excited to see what it will deliver.”

The programme specifically targets second-year students so these students, once in their final year, can share their experience through assisting a new cohort of first-year journalism students in various practical exercises, thus reinvesting in the department. They will also work at various media partners of the Department of Communication Science.

From the left; Nkonsinathi Gabuza, from the MICT Seta; Dr Willemien Marais; Prof Collin Chasi, Head of the Department Communication
Science and Juanita Burjins. (Photo: Rulanzen Martin)

News Archive

Transforming lives through reading

2014-08-11

The UFS Library and Information Services visited Lekhulong Senior Secondary School as one of their community development projects commemorating Mandela Day on 25 June 2014. Situated in the Bloemfontein township of Rocklands, the school’s library was depleted of books and in need of a total revamp. The group of change agents under the guidance and leadership of Marcus Maphile, Assistant Director: Information Services, consisted of seventeen library staff members, library ambassadors and volunteers from Student Life and Leadership.

A total of 450 books were donated to the school. The range of books was made up of mainly dictionaries and encyclopaedias. Fifty of these copies were acquired through the ‘Buy or Donate a Book’ campaign run by the library earlier this year.

In thanking the UFS library, the school’s principal, Mash Mawasha said reading has always been a challenge for his learners and that he is confident that this will be a major turning point for them.

The Director of Library Services, Betsy Eister, expressed the UFS library’s commitment to this project. She pledged regular visits to the school to ensure that Lekhulong library staff are trained on how to run the library and that teachers include library books in their teaching.

“We try to ensure that by the time learners arrive at universities,” Maphile said, “they have exposure to libraries, that they acquire a love for reading books and most importantly have confidence not only to express themselves but to use the library system efficiently.”

The book donation programme has been running successfully for two years and apart from revitalising school libraries in disadvantaged communities, the UFS library staff provides training and support to teacher librarians. Next year, the team plans to extend their project to another community in Bloemfontein – that of Headstart High School.

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