Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
11 February 2020
|
Story Leonie Bolleurs
|
Photo Leonie Bolleurs
Prof Liesl van As, Academic Head of the Department of Zoology and Entomology, is passionate about equal rights for parasites.
As a research-led institution, the university has 1 600 female researchers (2019 statistics), with 63 boasting ratings from the National Research Foundation (NRF). Four of the UFS SARChI Research Chairs are also headed by women.
One of the scientists at the University of the Free State (UFS) who gets excited about research is Prof Liesl van As, Academic Head of the Department of Zoology and Entomology.
She was part of the UFS team that established Africa’s largest digital laboratory, equipped with 227 microscopes, to ensure that undergraduate students from Zoology and Entomology, as well as Plant Sciences (Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences), have access to hi-tech equipment for a cutting-edge teaching experience.
The good and the bad
But she also has a passion for her own research – that of fish parasites. Her most recent research work is about the biodiversity of fish parasites in natural river systems, with a focus on the Orange River and its tributaries, as well as the Okavango River and Delta in Botswana.
A few years ago, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries expanded their mandate for fisheries management by adding inland fisheries and aquaculture to their list of responsibilities.
Prof Van As believes her research will add value to this process. “If we are going to expand inland fisheries, we need to expand our knowledge of what is happening in natural systems. It is important that we know and understand what potential problems might arise in aquaculture conditions.”
Equal rights for parasites
“We also need to understand that not all so-called parasites are bad, some have co-evolved with their hosts and they are part of our overall biodiversity. If the hosts are going extinct, so does this amazing spectrum of symbionts,” says Prof Van As, who is enthusiastic about promoting ‘equal rights for parasites’ (Wilson, 1995).
When it comes to the future of women in research, Prof Van As – inspired by life itself, believes the possibilities are endless. “If you can dream it, you can do it. Ex Africa Semper Aliquid Novi (out of Africa there is always something new),” she states.
Teacher professionalism and status under Commonwealth radar
2010-03-26
 |
From the left are: Ms Simone De Cormarmond, Chairperson: Commonwealth Foundation; Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, University of the Free State (UFS); Mr Samuel Isaacs, CEO: SAQA; and Dr Carol Anne Spreen, Lecturer at the University of Maryland, USA).
Photo: Ian van Straaten |
International delegates attending the 5th Annual Commonwealth Teacher Research Symposium held at the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein this week unanimously agreed that more research still had to be done on issues of recognition, registration and standards affecting teachers and teaching across Commonwealth countries.
This two-day gathering of researchers, officials and representatives of regional international organisations and higher education institutions agreed that issues of teacher migration, the professionalism of teachers, teacher preparation and the use of teaching standards, as well as the comparability and recognition of teacher qualifications should be further researched.
The delegates agreed on the following based on the research and data that were presented and shared with all the participants:
Teacher migration is recognised as an increasing global phenomenon that requires ongoing research in the Commonwealth.
Recognising that inequalities and differences within and across Commonwealth countries exist, and considering that fair and ethical treatment in the international recruitment of teachers is an important cornerstone of the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol.
Teacher training, the recognition of teacher qualifications, the professional registration of teachers and the development of professional teacher standards should be actively encouraged through ongoing pan-Commonwealth research.
An increased acknowledgement of the role of the professionalisation of teachers through an improved understanding of teacher qualifications and standards.
There should be a specific research focus on teacher preparation and the use of teaching standards.
An increased comparability and recognition of teacher qualifications across Commonwealth countries should be actively encouraged.
Advocacy of teachers’ rights, effective protection of the vulnerable teacher, and appropriate strategies should be promoted to uplift the status of teachers and teaching as a profession.
The Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol, amongst other things, aims to balance the rights of teachers to migrate internationally against the need to protect the integrity of national education systems, and to prevent the exploitation of the scarce human resources of poor countries.
Delivering his keynote address at the symposium, the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, decried the quality of professional qualifications in South Africa.
“We have become very good at manufacturing outcomes. We actually have become very good at giving an impression of having achieved particular outcomes without having achieved them at all,” he said.
“So what does it mean to talk about outcomes in an unequal country with unequal resources? What does it mean to talk about qualifications when we do not trust the outcomes?”
He suggested that the teaching profession should be subjected to a peer review mechanism and that the practice of setting minimum standards should be dealt away with because it results in minimum outcomes.
Dr Carol Anne Spreen, lecturer at the University of Maryland in the USA, proposed that countries should improve the quality of their own teachers instead of importing teachers from other countries.
The research symposium was organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and hosted by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the UFS.
Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
26 March 2010