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09 October 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Barend Nagel
Braille Signage
Big on Braille: Members of the Kovsie community who are living with visual impairments can now access directions through the new braille system.

The University of the Free State (UFS) commemorate World Sight Day, which is celebrated annually on the second Thursday of October. The day has been set aside and aimed at drawing attention to blindness and vision. This was originally initiated by the #SightFirstCampaign of the Lions Club International Foundation in 2000. 
The university aims to contribute to the development and social justice of all students through the production of globally competitive graduates. Thus, the development and implementation of co-curricular programmes, activities, services, and mutual infrastructure will allow for humanising daily lived experiences among students, which are essential for universal access, student academic success, social behaviour, engagement, and an inclusive institutional culture.

With this in mind, the university rolled out a capital project that included the construction of tactile pathways with braille indicators on the pathways, designed to support and caution pedestrians who are blind or visually impaired. The indicators are universally accessible, because it includes Braille and text. The text then gives indications to new students who are also struggling to find their way around campus.

A UFS Bachelor of Social Sciences student who dreams of becoming a social worker, Tshegofatso Nkatlholang, who was born partially blind, but is now completely blind is motivated by the prospect of living a life where she has the ability to help the less fortunate. Her opinion of the construction and implementation of the new tactile pathways on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus is that they are extremely helpful. She went on to say, “That is my road, and I am grateful for a university that strives to operate an inclusive infrastructural environment where I don’t feel sidelined.”
Kovsie student Keamogetswe Mbele was born partially blind with very low vision, eventually losing her eyesight. She explained that she had no knowledge of the newly built braille indicators on the tactile pathways, but that she felt appreciative of the university’s initiative to constitute an inclusive academic and infrastructural environment for all students on campus. Motivated by her personal goals of independence and financial freedom, ‘Kamo’, as her peers refer to her, is determined to live a prosperous academic life throughout the course of her studies at the UFS.

According to Mookgo Moloi, a Kovsie student who was not born blind but gradually lost her sight at the age of 15, said, “Life on campus is very caring”. She reflected on the opportunities, as well as the technical and emotional support that the Center for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS) has provided her, which has made her academic career a lot easier, and more advantageous for her to graduate. 
CUADS further strives to facilitate, create opportunities, and enhance students’ understanding of multiple intersections and ways of being that are consistent with human rights and the principles of social justice.




News Archive

SRC visits the US as part of Global Leadership Preparation Programme
2012-06-07

The Student Representative Councils (SRC) of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses will be travelling to the United States from 10-24 June 2012 on an intensive leadership development programme.

The Global Leadership Preparation Programme, initiated by the Vice-Chancellor and Rector, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, has been designed to ensure that South Africa’s next generation of leaders understand their unique place in a global context, the interconnectedness of global and local society and various possibilities for change.
 
The group of 36 students will be visiting Washington DC, Boston and New York.
 
“As a university we recognise that students who lead on campus must be prepared to also lead the country, which requires amongst others greater understanding of the impact and influence of global developments (social, economic, political) on nation states and campuses. This includes knowledge to deepen democratic participation and real representation – issues we know that often are contested in important student governance structures such as SRCs,” says Mr Rudi Buys, Dean of Student Affairs.
 
The group will be studying among others the impact, influence and limits of the United Nations in global leadership; the impact of transnational companies on economic policies of African countries; the impact of American universities on African leadership; the impact of international philanthropy on African development and the impact of American public institutions on learning among the disadvantaged: lessons for South Africa.
 
The programme complements and strengthens other leadership preparation programmes of the UFS, such as the Leadership for Change Programme and the Gateway College Programme – an intensive orientation programme for all undergraduate students. It will give students a competitive advantage in leadership over more local programmes and initiatives that seldom look beyond the campus, or even beyond the country, in preparing the next generation of leadership.
 
“We value this initiative by the university leadership to give us the opportunity to explore and spread our wings and gather as much knowledge as we can get to raise the bar in terms of student governance and leadership. The university is amongst the few in the country that sees the need to strengthen and develop its student leadership by exposing it and allowing it to understand its role in a global context. This is a chance that we take seriously and we intend to use it to the betterment of the institution,” says Bongani Ngcanga, President of the Central SRC.
 
“While we welcomed the initiative taken by the university to design this programme, the SRC questioned and debated heavily on the merits and real contribution of such a programme. Only on approval of the academic and development profile of the programme did we accept its merits and now are excited about the value thereof. This opportunity goes beyond the term of the SRC and will develop and equip us for the great positions we will hold in the future. I am looking forward to meeting influential lobbyists, profound academics and strong politicians,” says Richard Chemaly, SRC President of the Bloemfontein Campus.
 
Upon their return, the SRCs will set a new benchmark for future councils, raising the bar to that of internationally acclaimed student leadership. One of the objectives of the programme is to produce written, reflective statements about the learning that resulted from the trip and to start dialogues in order to improve student governance and governance as a whole. Workshops will also be presented for aspirant student leaders on leadership lessons learnt from an international perspective.
 
Members of the SRCs are covering part in the cost of the programme and generous contributions have also been received from outside the university.

Media Release
07 June 2012
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: +27(0)51 401 2584
Cell: +27(0)83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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