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Well done to Kovsies GradStar top 11!

08 October 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Charl Devenish

Gradstar UFS — The 2019 GradStar programme is all about producing well-rounded students and providing them with opportunities in the world of work, explained Head of UFS Career Services, Belinda Janeke.

Congratulations to the Kovsies top-11 students who made it into the GradStar top-100 programme for 2019!

Each year, 100 South African students are selected through a rigorous four-phase judging process to become part of the GradStar programme. The programme is designed to offer opportunities for employment to previously unrecognised students.

What makes the top 11?

According to the UFS Head of Career Services, Belinda Janeke, the GradStar programme is all about producing a well-rounded student. Approximately 6 000 applications were received from Kovsies, of which 500 were selected based on a personality test. Another test was given to the 500 students who passed the personality test, after which interviews were conducted to determine the top 100 from the UFS.

The students who were selected to represent the UFS exhibited the most potential as future leaders in their respective fields. Apart from academic achievement, contestants were evaluated according to their individual soft skills such as motivation, discipline, altruism, and attitude. This combination promised to deliver top candidates for future employers.

2019 GradStar programme experiences

Throughout the competition, Kovsie contestants were exposed to new people and opportunities to network with various companies in their preferred career fields, where they had the opportunity to share their CVs with potential employers. Contestants were also afforded the opportunity to develop critical problem-solving skills in the world of work. The GradStar top-100 students also have a WhatsApp group where jobs are advertised.

The programme was valuable for the Kovsies; not only did it prepare them for employment, but also provided them with an opportunity for learning and recognising their own strengths and weaknesses as individuals in the working world.

Congratulations to the Kovsies who made it into the GradStar top 100:

Mariné du Toit: Bachelor of Social Work
Nyiko Maluleka: Bachelor of Arts, Corporate and Marketing Communication
Bianca Malan: Bachelor of Accounting, Financial Accounting
Boitumelo Mancoe: Master of Business Administration
Kabelo Mashego: Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB)
Kananelo Moletsane: Bachelor of Agriculture
Mudzunga Mukwevho: Bachelor of Accounting, Financial Accounting
Neo Roberts: Bachelor of Science, Information Technology
Refilwe Maimane: Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting
Themba Makhoba: Bachelor of Public Administration
Mpolokeng Mmutle: Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting

News Archive

Sisulu Calls for Mugabe to go

2008-08-08

Human rights activist and renowned author, Ms Elinor Sisulu, has called on the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, to step down.

Ms Sisulu made this call during her presentation of the Women’s Day lecture, titled: “Voiceless and voteless, fleeing zanuphobia into xenophobia: A Zimbabwean woman’s perspective of National Women’s Day” at the University of the Free State (UFS) on Wednesday.

She said thousands of Zimbabweans who fled their country because of violence will not return home unless Mugabe steps down.

“For the Zimbabweans in diaspora, what Mugabe symbolizes is so powerful that as long as he is there as a ceremonial president they will not return home. So the simple message from the South African office of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is that Mugabe must go”, she said.

She also lambasted the southern African region generally, and South Africa in particular, for its silence over what she calls “Zanu-PF orchestrated violence” that triggered the current refugee influx in the region.

“The South African government was totally silent on the loss of life of innocent and vulnerable Zimbabweans. The mediator said nothing about it”, she said in a clear reference to president Thabo Mbeki, the SADC-appointed mediator.

She said for the Zimbabweans who had to flee to South Africa it was a case of “jumping from the frying pan into the fire”, fleeing Zanuphobia to xenophobia”.

She, however, appealed to the South Africans to raise their voices about the refugee problem that is not only besetting this country, but the whole region.

Ms Sisulu was born in Zimbabwe and she works in the South African office for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, the major umbrella body of Zimbabwean non-gobernmental organizations.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za
07 August 2008

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