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New Era dawns on Qwaqwa Campus

05 September 2019 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah

New Era Editorial Team — New Era editorial team comprising the Editor-in-Chief, Prudence Mkhari, flanked by editors, Mosia Rasekwane (left) and Monti Mosebi (right).

Qwaqwa Campus has a new student newsletter. According to the Editor-in-Chief, Prudence Mkhari, New Era aims to project content that is written from a student’s perspective.

“We want students to easily relate to the content as opposed to being written by a staff member. It focuses on student-life events and the university as a whole. The content ranges from student life to university events and milestones. In essence, it is the voice of the students and the watchdog of the campus,” says Prudence.

She says response to the newspaper has been good, considering that they have had only two issues plus an SRC election special that carried candidates’ manifestos. “We are constantly being asked when the next issue is coming out. A lot of students have even come forth with stories that they would like us to cover in the next issue,” she added.

Some of the comments about the very first edition includes this one by Rosie Senoko, final-year BA student: “Congratulations on your publication. One would swear that you have written many pieces, not aware it was your first! All the best to you and your team.” A BSocSci final-year student, Sibonginkosi Ngcongwane, wrote: “Great job! Well done!”
It has not been an entirely smooth sailing process for the paper. “There is still room for improvement in terms of writing and editing, because almost no-one on the team has writing experience. So, additional training is still required. Meeting deadlines is also another area that needs major improvement,” says Prudence.

The team comprises 14 students who write a variety of pieces, from news to sports and from opinion to lifestyle, while some provide technical support such as editing and photography.

Going forward, the plan is to digitise the newspaper and make it accessible to a broader online market. To advertise, send an email to newera@ufs4life.ac.za

News Archive

Research at the UFS on the acceptability and modern use of earth building in newly settled urban areas can help the poorest of the poor to acquire hou

2003-08-26

The University of the Free State and the Technische Universiteit van Eindhoven in the Netherlands received a research bursary of R316 000 from SANPAD (South African Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development).

The aim of the research is to determine the public acceptability of sustainable, high quality, earth constructed public and private buildings as an alternative to the conventional way of building with bricks and steel.

“European countries like the Netherlands are far advanced with studies in earth construction and this is why the partnership was formed with the Technische Universiteit van Eindhoven,” says Prof Das Steÿn, Head of Urban and Regional Planning at the UFS and project leader.

Although research regarding mapping, typology and availability of natural and local resources has been done on a national level, little research has been done on the acceptability and the modern use of earth building in newly settled urban areas.

“South Africa has a large housing shortage and traditional methods such as earth building techniques are not used in urban informal housing. Preference is given to corrugated iron sheets and plastic,” says Prof Steÿn.

The use of upgraded earth construction might be more sustainable as far as the environment and the economy is concerned. “If we can make a breakthrough in the development and propagating of these methods it will help the poorest of the poor to acquire housing of a better quality.”

The research team from the UFS consists of Prof Steÿn, Ms Petria Jooste-Smit, Head of the Unit for Earth Construction in the Department of Architecture and Mr Gerhard Bosman of the Department of Architecture.

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