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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

Pauline Gutter’s metaphorical representations of South Africa

2016-04-07

Art student, Thamsanqa Malgas views the Purgatorium exhibition at the Stegmann Gallery on the Bloemfontein Campus (UFS).
Photo: Rethabile Isaacs

Purgatory is a temporary condition of torment or suffering. This is the central thread of the renowned artist’s exhibition, Purgatorium, at the University of the Free State (UFS). Pauline Gutter’s exhibition was opened by Harry Siertsema on 9 March 2016 at the Stegmann Gallery on the Bloemfontein Campus.

The artist, who grew up on a farm in the Free State, is influenced by animals and farm life. “My work is on many levels a metaphorical representation of the violence of current South Africa. Some people want to move away from stigma, others adopt hysteria. The impressive yet vulnerable bulk of the bulls depicted in uncomfortable positions manifests the voiceless and powerless generation of food producers in their daily struggles for survival,” she wrote in the catalogue of the exhibition.

Prof Dirk van den Berg of the UFS Department of History of Art and Image Studies wrote an essay about the exhibition, in which he captures the lived endurance of stress and suffering which Pauline Gutter depicts vividly in Purgatorium.

“The paintings, drawings, and prints in this exhibition have, in various ways, the effect of disseminating the basic tenor of the weaning metaphor of struggle for survival into the farming domains of the land, its creatures, and its people,” said Prof van den Berg.

Art student, Thamsanqa Malgas, was very impressed with the exhibition, saying that it was a fascinating collection, and a must-see for art lovers. The exhibition closed on 1 April 2016.

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