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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.

MICT Seta grant
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

PSP rejuvenating the South African professoriate
2016-10-25

Description: Dr Olihile Sebolai Tags: Dr Olihile Sebolai

Dr Olihile Sebolai (Microbiology) is
one of two Fulbright scholars the
UFS Prestige Scholars’ Programme
has produced. He was a Fulbright
scholar at the University of Missouri
(Kansas City) and before that
conducted work at the University
of Birmingham in the UK.
Photo: Anja Aucamp

Twenty years. That is the difference between the average age of a UFS Prestige Scholar (35) and the average age of a South African academic (55). Since its inception in 2011, the UFS’s Prestige Scholars’ Programme (PSP) has pro-actively addressed the ageing profile of academia and the need to transform the social composition of the South African academy. In doing so it has generated more than R67 million in research funding, including R10 million in student and post-doctoral funding.

The programme seeks to identify, cultivate and promote outstanding scholarship among “young” members of the UFS academic staff – those who have acquired a doctorate within the last five years. It provides support (funding applications, report writing, etc.) and helps with international placements in order to accelerate the establishment of an international footprint in expectation of the participants’ entry into the professoriate.

The programme mentors scholars from five faculties at the UFS. PSP scholars have conducted research and established collaborations in North America, Europe and Japan at institutions such as Harvard, UCLA, Cornell University, University of Michigan, University of Missouri, University of British Columbia, Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of Manchester, University of Birmingham, Basel University, University of Bologna, Leiden University, Uppsala University, Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology and Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.

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