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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

Leadership for Change celebrates graduation ceremony
2014-10-15

The Leadership for Change Programme hosted its third annual graduation ceremony on 9 October 2014 at the Centenary Complex on the Bloemfontein Campus.

The event consisted of two segments. The first was aimed at the group who has travelled abroad during the past year. They were presented with special certificates acknowledging the work they have done during their participation in the programme.

The second element of the evening was to wish the 2014/2015 group all of the best for their upcoming travels. This group will be travelling abroad during next year. Of the 250 applicants, the top 32 students were chosen to be part of the Leadership for Change Programme.

Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, said, “I hope you came back with the capacity to distinguish right from wrong – not only through law, but morally as a leader.”

Waldo Staude, Vice-president of the Student Representative Council (SRC), acted as Chair to the evening’s proceedings. He is also an alumnus of this programme.

“This programme has made its mark as we observe the number of leadership positions our students from the programme hold on this campus,” Staude said. “We have eight Leadership for Change students in the SRC for the 2014/15 term.”

The Leadership for Change Programme each year gives first-year students exposure to top universities throughout the world. Its focus is to establish a new campus culture of student relations across boundaries.

Six cohort groups – of between five to six students each – will visit universities on three different continents in January 2015. Each group will be accompanied by a UFS staff member serving the role of mentor.

The universities they will be visiting (according to continent), are:

 USA
Cleveland State University
University of Minnesota
University of Vermont 

Europe
The Netherlands: Vrije University in Amsterdam
Belgium: University of Antwerp and Ghent University 
 
Asia
Japan: International Christian University

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