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Prof LenkaBula promotes partnership with German University

23 September 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Barend Nagel

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

Internet Broadcast Project grabs attention of Commonwealth – and yet another award

2015-07-28

Learn more about the Internet Broadcast Project and its impact on learners’ lives

The Internet Broadcast Project (IBP) has brought yet another international award to the University of the Free State (UFS). This project – which is changing the lives of Free State school learners – has won second place in the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards, a huge achievement considering that the IBP was chosen from 89 submissions entered by a total of 20 countries belonging to the Commonwealth.

This latest award comes close on the heels of another international award that was presented to the IBP recently. In April 2015, the project was the winner of the 2015 Enterprise Video Award (EVA) in the category Video in Education Scholarship. This makes it two in a row, since the IBP also won an EVA in 2014 for Innovation in Pedagogy.

Mr Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat, presenting the second-place prize for the Commonwealth Good Practice Awards to Sarietjie Musgrave, Head: ICTISE (ICT in School Education) on behalf of ICTISE.
Photo: Peter Ramsay

Live broadcast at no cost to schools
The IBP – presented from the UFS South Campus – makes use of the best teachers to broadcast lessons to school learners who do not have access to quality education. More than 10 subjects are broadcast live, via VSAT Internet Access, to 70 centres across the province. The technology provided at each school allows learners to communicate with the presenter in the studio during broadcast at no cost to the school or learner.

“Through the IBP,” says Sarietjie Musgrave, Head: ICTISE (ICT in School Education), “we aim to bring quality education to each and every learner, regardless of their socio-economic status or geographical location, while delivering cost-effective continuous teacher professional development directly relevant to the Free State community we serve.”

Making a positive difference
The Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards honour education programmes that have made a positive difference to the status and condition of school children, teachers, or the education system in their countries. The IBP was lauded for its excellence in six of the Action Areas of Good Practices:

• Relevance
• Measurable impact and effect
• Sustainability
• Efficiency and effectiveness
• Community participation
• Replication

“Receiving this international award,” says Musgrave, “shows that we are having an impact worldwide.”

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