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Internationalisation at home: Perspectives from abroad

30 April 2020 | Story Baptiste Becret | Photo Supplied

Since the approval of the University of the Free State (UFS) internationalisation strategy for 2018-2022, the UFS community and staff members of the Office for International Affairs (OIA) have been working hard to try and realise the goals stated in the strategy. The policy states “the university's’ commitment to developing curricula that are locally relevant, globally competitive and connect to multiple knowledge paradigms”. Furthermore, “We expect that the new internationalisation strategy will advance the international positioning of the university, and synergise the existing rich international activities into intentional, comprehensive internationalisation processes”.

In an effort to realise the said expectations through the university’s inbound mobility programme, the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French in the Faculty of the Humanities has hired Baptiste Becret, an exchange student from French partner university, Science PO Bordeaux, as French tutor for the first semester of 2020. This collaboration by the two departments endeavours to achieve the university’s vision of developing its students’ international and intercultural competencies through internationalisation at home. Equally, this initiative speaks to a critical aspect of internationalisation, the “purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal curriculum for the UFS students within the domestic learning environment”.

Being the only Frenchman on campus

“I was the only Frenchman on campus and at the university, which I rather enjoyed. I learned at the beginning of this year, in January, that I could share my culture and language by helping students participating in the first- and second-year French courses at the university. For my part, I was attached to the Faculty of the Humanities. I've already had experience as a tutor in France, so I wasn't very stressed at the idea of being in front of a class. I enjoyed trying to teach my mother tongue. My contact with the French teacher was good. He gave me a lot of freedom to do the activities I wanted to do.

I didn't think that passing on my knowledge to the first-year class would be so difficult. Indeed, for some of them, they have never spoken a word of French. But the atmosphere improved from class to class after a shy start. I hope I was able to help them as best I could. In any case, I was very happy to teach them and to assist them in their various difficulties with the language. For the second-year class, the atmosphere was a little different. The class was smaller, the students already knew each other well, and they were pretty close. Additionally, their language level was already good.

All this to say that being a French tutor was a great experience. It was enriching for both parties (students and me). Of course, I tried to do the best I could, and I took advantage of the free time my schedule gave me to share a little bit of my home country. So, I advise future international students – if they feel comfortable with that – to give it a try. It's only two hours a week with a little bit of extra money. Finally, I would like to thank the International Office for informing me of this opportunity, the people involved in the programme, including my coordinator, the French teacher, and especially the students who have been super cool to me.”

News Archive

UFS becomes Varsity Netball champions – again

2014-10-21

Photo: Catherine Kotze, SASPA

Kovsies has become the first team to successfully defend the Varstiy Netball title when they beat Tuks 49-42 in the 2014 final in Pretoria on Monday 20 October.

University of Pretoria (Tuks) might have been unbeaten for the entire 2014 tournament, but this did not hinder Kovsies in becoming the Varsity Netball champions for a second consecutive time.

From the outset, both these furiously focused teams fought hard and only after ample turnovers could Kovsies finally manage to open the score board.

The Mostert sisters, Karla and Tanya, won a couple of crucial balls, leaving the UFS dominating possession in the opening exchanges.

When Tuks eventually got to scoring, they could not stop the UFS from rushing to a 9-3 lead after the first ten minutes. The visitors had established a 13-5 advantage by the first break, keeping the Pretoria crowd quiet.

The home side came back shooting in the second quarter with great determination, fighting their way back into the game. Tuks ran hard, needing to work hard against Kovsies, who still managed to be in the lead with 22-16 at half-time.

Kovsies made good use of their power play early in the third quarter to stretch their lead further to 30-22. They made the most of their opportunities, going into the final quarter with a 39-31 upper hand.

Even though Tuks made a couple of changes during the final break, they could not avoid defeat in the end.

Kovsies’ Lauren-Lee Christians was also the player of the match, while the champion’s captain, Karla Mostert, was announced as the Player of the Tournament.

This hard-working defender made a number of crucial interventions alongside her sister Tanya in the final. Karla proved that she was the fans’ tournament favorite, claiming the most votes and winning a Samsung S4.

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