Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Impacting career choices on the Qwaqwa Campus

08 April 2020 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Supplied

Career development read more — Nonhlanhla Moleleki.

Many students arriving at institutions of higher learning for the first time are often overwhelmed by the vast number of academic programmes available to them. They either end up going for study choices without much thought, or out of desperation.

Seeing the gap between self-awareness and how it impacts career choices, the UFS introduced the Career Development Programme to teach students more about their chosen careers from the onset. It was first introduced to first-year students on the Qwaqwa Campus in 2017.

Project leader and registered counsellor in Student Counselling and Development on the Qwaqwa Campus, Nonhlanhla Moleleki, said the programme was implemented to assist students in better understanding their study choices and the career they have selected, and to better equip them with the relevant knowledge and skills.

This annual project is once again available to students, and this year it has been extended to the South Campus to assist students enrolled for the University Preparation Programme to choose a study field that fits them best.

Students are uncertain about their study choices
She said many students often settle for study options without aligning these choices with their interests, personalities, and capabilities, which frustrate them in the long run.

“Students are often unsure about the career stream they are in and whether it suits them best, leading to poor academic performance. We’ve started receiving bookings from students on the different campuses, which shows that there is a need for the project to be implemented across all campuses. If students choose the right career path and go for options that best suit them, they have a better chance of excelling,” she said.

Career programme carries long-term benefits for students
The programme runs for eight weeks annually through two-hour sessions per week. Moleleki said during these sessions, students are completing activities on career awareness, understanding individual abilities, and personality styles. The Student Counselling and Development team is also able to connect students with resources related to the industries that interest them.

“We also equip them with coping skills, as well as decision-making processes, in order to choose a career path that is well suited to their own interests, values, and personality styles,” she said.

She said assessments are done in the following areas: self-information, career information, integration of self-information with career knowledge, and career planning.
Moleleki said students who participated in the programme showed an increase in self-awareness and were able to better integrate this into their career choices. “In addition, they are also registered on the national Department of Labour’s database. This connects them with other graduates and potential employers.”

“This programme helps students align themselves with relevant skills and knowledge about the careers that best fit them. It also prepares them for the world of work. It’s not always about the jobs in demand, but it’s about students having a career that they will be happy with.”

News Archive

Another boost for sport at the UFS

2005-10-13

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has officially appointed Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd, which has former Springbok rugby captain Morné du Plessis as managing director, to manage its Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Services (CESSS) on the Bloemfontein campus.

According to Prof Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Academic Operations, the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is another step in the implementation of the UFS’s wide-ranging sport strategy to improve sport facilities and elevate formerly marginalized sports such as soccer, hockey, netball, tennis etc.

Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is the manager of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and coordinates and manages the national basketball high-performance programme of SA Basketball, as well as the Boxing Academy on behalf of Boxing South Africa.

“It is also actively involved with the sports plans of several tertiary institutions like that of the University of Johannesburg and the University of Stellenbosch,” said Prof Verschoor.

“Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was also appointed by the Ministry of Sport and Recreation to manage the allocation of sports codes to high-performance centres and to oversee the allocation of monies received from the National Lottery to these centres – this includes the CESSS at the UFS,” Prof Verschoor added.

In unfolding its national sports plan, the Ministry of Sport and Recreation has already identified the UFS-based CESSS as the high-performance testing centre for the national basketball teams whilst the national boxing teams are also earmarked to be trained at the UFS.

“We are glad to be associated with a company of this stature and look forward to work with them in the further development of sports at the UFS,” said Prof Verschoor.

According to Prof Verschoor, the CESSS will act as a centralised body that is responsible for the coordination and management of joint initiatives between professional service providers, research projects and KovsieSport.

“The centre will also coordinate and manage joint initiatives between various academic programmes in different academic subject fields such as sports medicine, bio kinetics, physiotherapy, dietetics, etc. ,” said Prof Verschoor.

These initiatives will help the UFS to become a centre and catalyst of sports development, to become internationally recognised in the field of exercise and sports science research and to become a centre for high quality sports performance enhancement.

Some of the objectives of the CESSS are:

To provide sports science services like to athletes, students, the general public and other stakeholders including certain national sport teams.
To provide the necessary teaching and training facilities and internship opportunities for UFS students in sports related fields of study will also be provided by the centre like human movement science.
To present skills-transfer programmes directed at the broader community like development of skills in various sporting codes.
To continue and extend the current chronic risk reversal programmes presented by the Department of Human Movement Science such as obesity management, cardiac rehabilitation and other lifestyle related conditions.

The centre was founded in 2003 and was until now managed by Dr Louis Holtzhausen, from Kovsie Health and a consultant, Dr Gary Vorster.

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed today by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The manager of the centre appointed by Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is Mr Charles Store, an alumnus of the UFS, previously employed at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town and by the SANDF at 3 Military Hospital, Bloemfontein.

Media release
Issued by: Anton Fisher
Director: Strategic Communication
072-207-8334
12 October 2005

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

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