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13 September 2019 | Story Cornelius Hagenmeier (Director: UFS International Office)

The management of the University of the Free State (UFS) is deeply concerned about the xenophobic and afrophobic attacks presently occurring in our country. Xenophobia is the ‘fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign’ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), whereas afrophobia can be understood as the ‘fear and hatred of the cultures and people of Africa’.

The UFS strongly condemns all forms of xenophobic and afrophobic actions and thought and expresses its solidarity with the members of the University community hailing from other regions of the African continent and the world. The UFS is committed to promoting diversity, social justice, inclusivity, and transformation. Its University community is united in its diversity. The UFS cherishes diversity as a catalyst for positive change, innovative research, and cutting-edge teaching and learning. Xenophobic actions, threats or statements will never be tolerated at the UFS. The UFS is committed to nurturing and entrenching a human-rights culture and advocating human rights both within the context of the University and beyond.

Xenophobia, afrophobia and discrimination jeopardise the process of internationalisation at the University. They limit the international and multicultural exposure of our students, which are important to achieve graduate attributes and specifically to develop students’ international and intercultural competence. The UFS is strategically strengthening its collaborations and partnerships in Africa and beyond. It recognises the positive force of diversifying the knowledge paradigms with which it interacts. International staff members, postdoctoral fellows, and students make a significant contribution to the academic project, scholarship traditions, and intellectual diversity of the University. The management of the UFS will do all in its power to ensure the wellbeing of all members of its international University community.



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


News Archive

Faculty of Education discusses new curricula at summit
2012-03-07

 

Die Fakulteit Opvoedkunde se nuut-aangepaste B.Ed.-programme word binnekort by die Nasionale Departement van Hoër Onderwys en Opleiding ingedien vir herakkreditasie. Proff. Rita Niemann (links), Direkteur vir Nagraadse Studie en Navorsing, en Gawie du Toit, Direkteur vir Aanvanklike Onderwysersopvoeding, is aan die stuur van die herkurrikuleringsproses vir voorgraadse en nagraadse programme van die Fakulteit Opvoedkunde.
6 March 2012

The training of professional teachers rests on a strong curriculum. For this reason, the Faculty of Education has been re-looking at the curricula of the B.Ed. programme for the past two years.

Before this programme is submitted for approval and accreditation, the Education Faculty’s staff from the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses will attend a summit at the Gariep Dam on 7 and 8 March 2012. This summit is a sequel to guidelines drawn up by the National Department of Higher Education and Training on adjusted requirements for teacher training. It determines that all initial teacher training and honours programmes be recurriculated and resubmitted for accreditation. These requirements were published in the Government Gazette in July 2011 and involve all education faculties in the country.
 
Deans and line heads of other faculties, including Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Humanities, and Economic and Management Sciences, have also become involved as Education students often register for modules in these faculties.
 
Last week a team from the UFS’s Education Faculty also attended a workshop presented by the Council on Higher Education where the criteria for recurriculation and the evaluation of programmes were discussed.
 
Prof. Gawie du Toit of the UFS’s Faculty of Education says curriculation is not merely a technical process but requires thorough reflection and conceptualisation, involving various roleplayers.
“It is important that recurriculation should take place over a period of time to allow for sufficient time for reflection, absorption and ownership.”
 
Thus, the aim of the Gariep Dam summit is to introduce a teachers’ training program that will provide graduates with the necessary knowledge, skills and responsibilities to take up their places as academics and professional beginner teachers.
 
During these two days students in Education will not attend any classes but they are tasked with self study and to complete assignments.

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