Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
04 August 2020 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath

Apart from its devastating impact on people’s lives and livelihoods, the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the nature and quality of our democracies – democracy read in its widest sense here as collective and individual self-determination. Formal, institutional democracy has beencurtailed through the imposition of states of emergency or disaster and the logistical difficulties associated with social distancing. Extra-institutional democratic work, such as protest and social-movement activity, has suffered from prohibitions imposed by law and through state suppression related to ‘lockdown’. The nature (and perhaps democratic quality) of public conversation has changed – for better or worse – from increasing reliance on ‘science’ and ‘scientists’ to justify public choices. The crisis has brought to the fore already existing characteristics of our democracies, such as the prevalence and power of special-interest bargaining, the extreme inequality of our societies, and chauvinist nationalisms that force us to ask whether we have ever had democracy at all. What will be the long-term effects of these impacts of the crisis on our democracies? What will democracy look like post-COVID? What does the crisis teach us about what our democracies have always been?

Join us for a discussion of these and other democracy-related issues in these troubled times by a panel of four hailing from Colombia, India, South Africa, and the USA.

Date: Thursday, 13 August
Time: 14:00-16:00 (South African Standard Time – GMT +2)

 

Please RSVP to Mamello Serasengwe at serasengwemsm@ufs.ac.za no later than 12 August 2020 upon which you will receive a Skype for Business meeting invite and link to access the webinar

Panel

Prof Natalia Angel Cabo (University of Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia)

Dr Quaraysha Ismail-Sooliman (University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa)

Dr Usha Ramanathan  Independent Law Researcher  (Delhi, India)

Prof Katie Young (Boston College, Boston, USA) 

Moderator

Prof Danie Brand (Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa)   




News Archive

Farewell to the Class of 2015
2016-12-07

Description:Class of 2015 Tags: Class of 2015 longdesc=


Some of the students from the Class of 2015

The First Year Leadership for Change programme (F1 L4C) hosted its final graduation ceremony for the class of 2015.

Launched in 2010, the programme gives first-year students international exposure to top universities across the world, providing invaluable opportunities to explore the concepts of transformational leadership, global citizenship and social cohesion.

The 32 students and six staff mentors visited various universities which included, New York University, Rutgers University, Edmonds Community College and Washington University ­- all in the US, Mahasarakham University in Thailand and Vrije University in the Netherlands.

Making a change through critical thinking

Pura Mgolombane, Dean of Student Affairs at the University of the Free State (UFS), challenged the students to think about making a change and to critically think about themselves and how they see the world.

The graduation function, which took place on 16 November 2016, saw the class of 2015 come together to celebrate their accomplishments over the year and allowed the class representative, Tammy Fray, to reflect on all of the valuable lessons learnt.

Special announcement to end the evening

Throughout the evening, representatives from previous years testified to the impact the programme had on their personal development, leadership pathways and their learning communities. The audience was charmed with a song by Stefan Lotter, current chair of the F1 Fellowship Association, and the Delicate Artistry Band.

The evening ended with a special word by Prof Nicky Morgan, acting Rector of the UFS, who convinced by alumni’s testimonies, acknowledged what the exceptional programme had delivered over the past six years. Although it was at the end of its lifetime, he said that in review, ideas emerging from the programme should be explored to give birth to something new.  Watch this space!

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