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04 September 2019
In support of the current national movement opposing violence against women at South African universities, the following activities will take place today:

• Silent march – Bloemfontein and South Campuses:

All staff and students on the Bloemfontein and South Campuses are requested to gather in front of the Main Building on the Bloemfontein Campus at 11:00; the silent march will commence at 11:30.
 
The route is as follows:
 
The group will walk from the Main Building to the Flippie Groenewoud Building, and to the Thakaneng Bridge towards the Winkie Direko Building. From there, the group will walk past the UFS Sasol library to the Theology Building, and then to the George du Toit Building, where statements will be read.
 
Staff and students are also welcome to join the march anywhere along the route.

• Prayer Service – Qwaqwa Campus:
 
The prayer service for all staff and students will be held in the Physics-Geography Auditorium of the new Science building at 12:00.


UFS suspends all academic activities on Friday 6 September 2019

The University of the Free State (UFS), through its executive management and the Institutional Student Representative Council (SRC), today decided that all academic activities on its three campuses will be suspended on Friday 6 September 2019 as a gesture of solidarity with the current national movement opposing violence against women at South African universities.

Staff and students are encouraged to wear black tomorrow to highlight advocacy around sexual and gender-based violence.

Essential services and activities that are scheduled and cannot be postponed or cancelled, will continue. These will be communicated by the relevant faculty.

As a university, we condemn all forms of violence against women in solidarity with other institutions of higher learning in the country.

A silent march for the Bloemfontein and South Campuses will take place tomorrow at 11:00. All staff and students are requested to gather in front of the Main Building of the Bloemfontein Campus at 11:00; the silent march will commence at 11:30. 

A prayer service for staff and students will be held on the Qwaqwa Campus tomorrow at 12:00. The venue will be communicated.

Situation on the Bloemfontein Campus on 4 September 2019 (21:00)
 
This afternoon, members of the senior leadership group provided feedback on the memorandum of students protesting against gender-based violence on the University of the Free State (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus.
 
The students did not agree with the feedback and a meeting subsequently took place between members of the senior leadership group and the Bloemfontein Campus Student Representative Council (SRC). Matters discussed during this meeting and which are part of the memorandum, included: on-campus security; gender-based violence; off-campus student safety; transport – especially a free shuttle service for off-campus students; evening classes; facilities and lighting on campus.
 
Disruption of some of the activities on campus continued this afternoon, despite the continued engagement with the student leadership. The university supports peaceful protest by students or staff about matters that are of concern to them. However, the university does not support violent protests. The university also cannot allow coercive disruption of classes and other activities such as those that happened during the past two days. This kind of conduct is not only illegal, but also runs counter to the essence of what the university is.
 
Protection Services is continuing to monitor the situation closely and additional security measures are still in place. A protocol during protests document has been compiled, which provides guidance to staff and students on how to act during protests. Our staff and students are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the document.

    
4 September 2019: Situation on the Bloemfontein Campus on 4 September 2019

On 3 September 2019, a group of students protested against gender-based violence on the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus causing disruption of some university activities. A memorandum was subsequently handed to members of the senior leadership group the same afternoon.

A meeting took place between members of the senior leadership group and the Bloemfontein Campus Student Representative Council (SRC) late yesterday afternoon. The memorandum was discussed, and a list of issues were tabled. It was agreed that feedback to the student body took place today at 12:00.

The executive management is aware of the disruptions that occurred this morning despite our engagement with the student leadership. The necessary additional security measures are in place and Protection Services is monitoring the situation closely. Staff and students will be updated of any development in this regard as soon as possible today. 


3 September 2019: No Incident of rape on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus on 2 September 2019

No incident of rape took place on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) yesterday (2 September 2019). No proof of the alleged incident has been found, and no incident of this nature was reported to the university’s Protection Services or the university’s Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) since yesterday.

This comes after posts and comments on social media last night indicated that a rape allegedly took place in the restrooms of the Examination Centre (EXR) on campus yesterday.

What did happen yesterday, was an incident at the EXR when a student fainted while writing a test at the EXR. The student was attended to by the staff members on duty and was transported from there by ER24 to a hospital in the city to receive further medical care.

Issued by:
Lacea Loader
Spokesperson
University of the Free State
+27 83 645 2454 | loaderl@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

State of our campuses: UFS closes campuses until Friday 28 October 2016 to readjust academic programme
2016-10-15

UFS announces strategy for completion of the 2016 academic year

Agreement between UFS management and student leadership in relation to residences

After almost four weeks of student protests about fees at the University of the Free State (UFS) and the subsequent suspension of the academic programme and closing of campuses, the senior leadership announced on 14 October 2016 a strategy to ensure that students will be able to complete the 2016 academic year.

The university on 13 October 2016 announced that it will shut down its Bloemfontein and South Campuses until 28 October 2016 for crucial and complex arrangements to be put in place to readjust the academic calendar and ensure that all students can complete their studies. The senior leadership did, however, make it clear that the university will not be shutting down for the remainder of 2016.

No teaching and learning activities at undergraduate and honours level will be offered between 17 October and 28 October 2016. The university will re-start teaching and learning at undergraduate and honours level in the first week of November 2016.

However, teaching and learning will not take place in the classrooms during November 2016, but through a different mode of delivery that consists of a combination of printed and recorded lectures, study materials and learning aids that will be provided by the university and delivered through Blackboard. In this manner no attempts at disrupting the rest of the academic year will affect our students’ academic programme. Students, however, will sit for the exam on campus.

Students in residence accommodation can return to campus as from 29 October 2016 and it is recommended that students who do not have off-campus internet access return to campus in order to access study material to complete the academic year.A new timetable for exams is still being developed and will be communicated as soon as the arrangements have been finalised.

Faculties have been differently affected by the loss of teaching time. Some faculties like the Faculty of Law have completed their curriculum, while other faculties like the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences require more teaching time. Some faculties, like the Faculty of Health Sciences, cannot do teaching through alternative modes of delivery.

The needs of the different faculties have been taken into account for developing a rescue plan to complete the 2016 academic year.

  • The Faculty of Health Sciences will continue its classes and clinical rotations as normal for all three schools on the Bloemfontein Campus and in the relevant hospitals. All students registered in programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences will stay in residences for the full period of their studies and exams. Final-year medical students will graduate in December 2016 as expected.
  • In the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, final-year students for the Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) will stay on campus during October through to December 2016 and their classes and tests will not change.
  • Arrangements for all other faculties and programmes are being prepared and within the next week, students and parents/guardians will receive communication about how curriculum content will be completed and when the final exams will take place.
  • The university is extending the academic year so that we can recuperate all the lost teaching and learning time. The qualifications conferred on the 2016 class will be of the same quality and standards as all UFS qualifications.

The UFS is and will remain a fundamentally contact teaching and learning education university. However, under the current circumstances faced not only by the UFS, but higher-education institutions across the country, the best way of ensuring the integrity of the academic programmes in most faculties is by using an alternative way of teaching and learning. Other South African universities have chosen the same approach to be able to complete the academic year.

Instead of students going to class, they will have content delivered to them where they are (library, computer labs, their own computers, etc.) through Blackboard and printed and electronic material. This is a different way of learning but students will be carefully guided and supported.

Faculties are currently preparing all the necessary materials and instructions to support student learning.Standards and quality will be the same as if students were attending classes. Some faculties require practical laboratory work as part of their curriculum. The exam timetable will be adapted for these students to be able to complete their practical work when the academic activities commences in November 2016. The relevant faculties will communicate the schedule of practical work directly to the students.

Students in their final year will complete their studies during 2016. It is possible that in some cases the graduation ceremony for these students will be in June 2017 instead of April 2017. This will not prejudice students with bursaries, or committed employment in law firms or other businesses. The university will provide the necessary academic transcripts as proof of the completion of the relevant qualifications. None of these changes will affect postgraduate students.

The university will maintain regular communication with students and parents/guardians to update them on the new exams timetable.Faculties will communicate directly with students about issues related to their programmes.

“One of the areas in which significant progress was made, is that we were able to agree on a basis for stability with student leaders. The student protests occurred during an important time in the university’s academic calendar and the readjustment of our academic programme has put tremendous pressure on academic and support services staff, and created anxieties for parents,” said Prof Nicky Morgan, Acting Rector of the UFS.

“The senior leadership restates its commitment to free education as well as its willingness to stand together with students and other public universities to impress on government the urgency to decide on a time frame for the roll-out of free higher education for the poor and missing middle. We will use the next two weeks to meet with the leadership of Universities South Africa to coordinate collective action in this regard. We will furthermore also roll out a series of activities to inform and educate students and the general public on different models and experiences of providing free higher education,” he said.

The strategy to readjust the 2016 academic year is applicable to students on the Bloemfontein and South Campuses.


Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

 

State of our campuses #15: UFS closes campuses until Friday 28 October 2016 to readjust academic programme

State of our campuses #14: All academic activities on UFS campuses remain suspended on 13 and 14 October 2016

State of our campuses #13: Availability of information about plans for remainder of UFS 2016 calendar year

State of our campuses #12: All academic activities at UFS campuses suspended for 11 and 12 October 2016

State of our campuses #11: Academic activities on UFS campuses continue

State of our campuses #10: Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year on UFS students 

State of our campuses #9: Academic programme on all UFS campuses to resume on Monday 10 October 2016

State of our campuses #8:  UFS extends vacation as from 28 September until 7 October 2016, 28 September 2016

State of our campuses #7: All three UFS campuses will be closed today, 27 September 2016.

State of our campuses #6: All UFS campuses reopen on Tuesday 27 September 2016

State of our campuses #5: UFS campuses to remain closed on Monday 26 September 2016

State of our campuses #4: Decisions about the UFS academic calendar

State of our campuses #3: UFS campuses closed until Friday 23 September 2016 

State of our campuses #2: UFS Bloemfontein and South Campuses closed on Tuesday 20 September 2016 (19 September 2016)

State of our campuses #1: Academic activities suspended on UFS Bloemfontein Campus (19 September 2016)

 

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