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23 September 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Barend Nagel
Prof Puleng LenkaBula
“I want to establish a paradigm shift from community engagement to engaged scholarship, which will transfer science between communities and form reciprocal collaborations in order to create new knowledge, research niche areas, influences, and support systems to aid innovative and progressive teaching and learning processes at the UFS.” – Prof LenkaBula
The University of the Free State (UFS) Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement, Prof Puleng LenkaBula, recently visited the Fulda University of Applied Sciences in Germany to discuss a possible future collaboration between the two institutions.

This was inspired by their multidisciplinary approach to higher-education courses, which she aims to facilitate at the UFS in order to pioneer critical thinking among students to ultimately bring about effective and innovative societal problem-solving in South Africa.

Fulda University is an exceptional higher-education institution with the ability to develop and transform itself to purposefully improve its infrastructure, the quality of students, and studies offered by the university. Their different degrees are structured to intersect with the requirements of the progressive European economic environment.

According to Prof LenkaBula, Fulda University is an outstanding institution specialising in applied sciences and theoretical studies, which set them apart from other universities in the advanced European higher-education system.

Prof LenkaBula believes that the prospect of developing joint master’s and/or doctoral degrees between the UFS and Fulda University would expose UFS students to high-quality international higher-education systems. This will ensure that our students are provided with essential skills to become globally competitive and relevant in their designated career fields, and to become strong contenders in an environment characterised by globalisation and the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR).
She referred to the global exchange of knowledge systems between the UFS and Fulda University as an opportunity for the UFS to improve the university’s global rankings through learning and participating in international collaborative approaches in higher education. 

“In order for our university to cease being seen as an ivory tower, it must be involved in producing knowledge that is beneficial to socio-economic and political development – not only for South Africa, but also for the rest of the world,” said Prof LenkaBula.


News Archive

South Africans can be first movers
2014-04-29

 
Dr Liz Lange, Prof Hussein Solomon, Minister Naledi Pandor and Prof Nicky Morgan
Photo: Johan Roux
Minister of Home Affairs, Naledi Pandor, recently addressed staff, students and members of the community at the CR Swart Auditorium, UFS.

During a public lecture hosted by the Department of Political Studies and Governance, in collaboration with the Free State Legislature, Pandor spoke about The Role of Intellectuals and Academics in moving South Africa forward. She challenged young minds to become the innovative game changers of tomorrow and stressed the importance of tertiary education and its impact on national developments.

“Our country and the world need large quantities of undergraduate institutions,” said Pandor. “We need new innovative partnerships. Private sector research and public sector research need to be married. And we as government should promote private sector development.”

Referring to the breakthrough for South Africa on Africa Day 2012, Pandor made it clear that South Africans have the potential to be first movers, although it has not always been the case. It was announced on Africa Day 2012 that Africa had been named as the preferred site for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope (http://www.ska.ac.za/releases/20120525.php). This undertaking contributed immensely in fuelling the interest in science and technology among South Africans.

“We cannot rely on the same things always. We as South Africans are not usually the first movers. We tend to adopt innovations from elsewhere. But, we need to do more to initiate innovative start-ups … especially in the fields of IT and high-tech innovations.”

Conclusively, this leads to the question of whether we as South African are doing enough to further build a new generation of intellectuals?

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