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08 December 2020 | Story Dikgapane Makhetha | Photo Supplied
UFS partners
At the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the UFS and local community radio stations were, from the left (front row): Lebogang Matolong, Station Manager of Motheo FM, and Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement. At the back (standing), are from the left: Mohau Rampeta, Programme Manager of Motheo FM, and Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele, Director: Community Engagement.
In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Directorate: Community Engagement (CE) has initiated an innovative platform on which students can continue to engage with university community partners, and at the same time be assessed for their service-learning and community engagement projects. 

The E-Engagement approach also meets the University of the Free State’s (UFS) strategic mandate to be a caring, responsive, and engaged university. Coordinated by the UFS CE office, academic staff and students are scheduled to engage with the community partners through radio broadcasts and virtual mode platforms. Informative content that has been researched, prepared, and presented by students in a pre-recorded format, will address significant issues brought about by the surge of COVID-19, creating a breeding ground for some of the societal ills, such as gender-based violence (GBV).

In order to establish sustainable relationships with community radio stations, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with two local community radio stations was signed on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus on 10 October 2020. Prof Puleng LenkaBula, the Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement, and Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele, CE Director, participated in the commitment to formalise the relationship between the UFS and the two radio stations, Mosupatsela FM and Motheo FM.

Master’s students from the Department of Psychology have produced and pre-recorded podcasts on community psychology. Their topics covered grief and self-compassion. The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics presented topics on a healthy lifestyle and diet. Fourth-year students from the School of Nursing have engaged new mothers concerning post-natal care. The School of Clinical Medicine has addressed the warning signs of burnout and preventative measures.

Bishop Ramahlele emphasised the importance of sustained relationship, which is expected to create further opportunities for interaction through partnerships in skills training (ICT) and the sharing of resources, including consultations through conference platforms. Prof LenkaBula highlighted the significance of the MOA by applauding the initiative, which has unlimited potential to ensure national development through student engagement, since universities create development sites that can be transferred further into the community. 

News Archive

Kovsie students selected for prestigious study travel programme
2013-05-15

 

Golden Key International Honour Society members, Michael van Niekerk, Siobhan Canavan, Mpoi Makhetha and Cebolenkosi Sokhela, will travel to the USA and China, meeting the best in their career fields.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
15 May 2013


They are amongst the top 15 percent of academic achievers at the university, and have been afforded the opportunity to travel abroad and meet with leading people in their fields of study.

Kovsie students Michael van Niekerk, Siobhan Canavan, Mpoi Makhetha and Cebolenkosi Sokhela, all members of the Golden Key International Honour Society, will travel to the USA and China. This trip is part of the International Scholar Laureate Program (ISLP) to learn how their career fields are practiced in another part of the world. The students are part of a select group of outstanding university students from across the world who will be given access to people, places and global perspectives in fields such as business, engineering, medicine, nursing, diplomacy and international relations.

Michael, a fourth-year MBChB student and SRC member of our Bloemfontein Campus, and Cebolenkosi, a third-year BSc Microbiology student will visit Washington, Philadelphia and New York in the USA. As part of the medicine delegation of the programme, they will visit clinics and hospitals to see how their study fields are practiced. Michael’s trip includes a visit to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he will meet representatives of the National Institute of Health, the largest source of funding for medical research in the world. He will also visit Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Mpoi, a third-year BSc Human Molecular Biology student, also forms part of the medicine delegation but will travel to China. "We will be exploring the ancient ways of healing versus the modern medical practices, exploring the medical systems of the country and meeting doctors and professors, visiting the rural areas, and of course, touring the best parts of China,” she said.

Siobhan, a third-year Media Studies and Journalism student, is part of the diplomacy and international relations delegation who will visit Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai in China. "To me it's such an honour to be part of this programme,” she said. “It will give me the platform to not only represent who I am, but also my university and the values that the university has instilled in me. It allows me to be a part of something great that will benefit me in the end."

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