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Embark on your Gateway to an exciting Kovsie life

23 January 2020 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa

Enrich your first University of the Free State (UFS) experiences with the annual Gateway first-year’s college. Form long-lasting friendships and memories with your fellow freshmen and gear up for a vibrant academic career at the UFS.

Gateway comprises an exciting series of student-life and learning experiences that are intended to introduce and acquaint students with their respective Kovsie campuses and overall UFS campus life.

The 2020 Gateway programme inducts first-year students into academic faculty life in order to help them adjust and settle into the university environment. It also aims to instil effective skills in them to thrive academically, and to develop into well-rounded, globally competitive graduates.

Want to experience Gateway? Here’s how

The Gateway Orientation programme on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus is conducted according to student colleges. First-year students who do not belong to an on-campus or day residence on the Bfn Campus, are assigned to a college in Exam Room 3 during their registration. This enables them to follow and be part of the series of events according to the colleges they are assigned to.

Get to know your UFS campus

UFS Campus Tours no longer form part of the Gateway Programme; however, Gateway mentors assigned to specific colleges are available for students to get in touch with, in order to arrange tours of the Bloemfontein Campus. Day-residence students and students residing on campus are paired with P3 mentors, who have been placed in their respective residences to facilitate campus tours for them.

KovsiesACTUP Performing Arts Competition

The UFS Arts, Culture and Dialogue office has partnered with the Kovsie ACT office for the 2020 Gateway programme, introducing the KovsiesACTUP Performing Arts Competition for all prospective and current students of the UFS. It is geared towards engaging students and enhancing the general social atmosphere on the Bloemfontein Campus during registration.

The competition comprises various categories, including dancing, singing, poetry, DJing, musical bands, and rap. The winner from each category will walk away with R1 500 in cash. The competition finale will be held at the RAG farm on 27 January 2020 at 14:00.

For more information on how to get involved with the Arts, Culture and Dialogue Office, students can visit the Callie Human Centre on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus. The office has set up a performance stage, where fellow Kovsies associated with the office are entertaining prospective students and parents who are waiting to register.

For enquiries about Gateway on each campus, see the details below:

Bloemfontein Campus: +27 51 401 9876 or email gateway@ufs.ac.za
Qwaqwa Campus: Dulcie Malimabe, +27 58 718 5041; malimabeDP@ufs.ac.za
South Campus: Tshego Setilo, +27 51 505 1362; SetiloT@ufs.ac.za

Visit the UFS Gateway page for more information on the 2020 programme and how you can get involved.

News Archive

Prof Tim Murithi calls for Africa to design new global order

2016-06-02

From left: Prof Heidi Hudson, Head of Centre for Africa
Studies (CAS); Prof Tim Murithi, Extraordinary Professor
at CAS; Prof Lucius Botes, Dean of the Faculty of
the Humanities; and Prof Prakash Naidoo, Principal of
Qwaqwa Campus.
Photo: Stephen Collet

“What do Africans have to say about the remaking of the global order?” was the opening question of Prof Tim Murithi’s lecture which was hosted by the Centre for Africa Studies (CAS) of the University of the Free State (UFS) to celebrate Africa Day on 25 May 2016.

The annual Africa Day Memorial Lecture, entitled: Africa and the Remaking of the Global Order, doubled as Prof Murithi’s inaugural lecture. He is CAS’s newly-appointed Extraordinary Professor, as well as the Head of the Justice and Reconciliation in Africa Programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town. He made a compelling argument for the need for Africa to exert an active influence on international narratives of peace, governance, justice, and reconciliation.

“If we are waiting for American leadership to get us out of the quagmire of a situation we are in, we will be waiting for a long time,” said Prof Murithi.

The Head of the Centre, Prof Heidi Hudson, concurred with Prof Murithi’s suggestion of devising African solutions for African problems. She quoted Audre Lorde’s well-known assertion that “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”

Remembering 1963
Over five decades ago, on 25 May 1963, the Organisation of African Unity was formed, and was renamed the African Union in 2002. Africa Day marks this pivotal point in the continent’s history. On this day, we reflect on the continent’s journey into democracy, peace, stability and socio-economic development. It is also an opportunity to celebrate African identity and heritage.

Continent-building dialogues
The UFS Sasol Library celebrated Africa Day with a book launch. Facets of Power. Politics, Profits and People in the Making of Zimbabwe's Blood Diamonds by Tinashe Nyamunda is a reflection of some of the challenges that Zimbabwe continues to face. It details the disadvantaged position which the country finds itself in due to greed, maladministration, and corruption, despite possessing large deposits of minerals.

In celebration of Africa Month, CAS has held a series of lectures by esteemed scholars from across the globe. Earlier in the month, Prof Henning Melber presented lectures on Namibia’s independence and the African middle class. Kevin Bloom and Richard Poplak unpacked the issues surrounding Africa’s continental shift, while Prof Joleen Steyn Kotze focused on the possible fall of the African National Congress.

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