Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
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

Gastroenterology Unit works to bring a transformative impact to healthcare
2016-11-21

Description: Gastroenterology Unit Tags: Gastroenterology Unit

Dr Rita Nathan, Acting CEO of Universitas Hospital,
Prof Willem Kruger, Acting Head of the
School of Medicine, and Prof Jan van Zyl,
Head of Department of Internal Medicine.
Photo: Nonsindiso Qwabe

The departments of Surgery and Internal Medicine at the University of Free State launched the newly upgraded Gastroenterology Unit of the Universitas Academic Hospital on 8 November 2016. Realising the need to provide state-of-the-art equipment that caters for various health needs, the unit has acquired new pieces of equipment worth R7 million. Through the equipment, a move towards the digital revolution, the unit hopes to bring about a transformative impact on healthcare service delivery in central South Africa and its surrounds.

Upgraded unit will make a difference on burden of diseases
Dr Rita Nathan, Acting CEO of the Universitas Hospital, said the increase in the number of scopes, and the improvement in technology, will facilitate improved service delivery to the community of the Free State and beyond. “This upgrade will enable the unit to make a tremendous dent in the burden of diseases in the communities we serve.”

Unit a unique feature in central South Africa
Serving a population from the Free State, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Lesotho; the growing demand of health services has led to an increase in the number of patients treated by the unit. This unit is unique in central South Africa as the only one providing endoscopic intervention for cases like gastrointestinal bleeding. It is also the only 24-hour gastroscopic service available in the state sector.

Improved service delivery linked to enhanced training platforms
Prof Willem Kruger, acting head of the School of Medicine, said that the upgrading of equipment will have an immense impact on not only service delivery, but also on training platforms in the latest technologies. “It important, as a university, that our doctors have the latest technology at their disposal to facilitate training. If training improves, service delivery improves. The two on inextricably linked.” he said.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept