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Safety and Security

BSafe

Safety and Security

First-year students: Your safety comes first

22 January 2020 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Sonia Small (Kaleidoscope Studio)

Safety read more — First-year students: Your safety comes first

Welcome to the first-year students at the University of the Free State (UFS) and best wishes for the 2020 academic year. We value your safety at all our three campuses and call on you to familiarise yourself with all safety features.
From safety off-campus and at residences, to personal security in general, the university has measures in place to ensure your well-being. Here are some of the resources available to you:

24/7 Operational Centres
Protection Services consistently works towards ensuring that security is tight on UFS campuses through its 24/7 Operational Centres. Emergencies and crime incidents that affect students may be reported at the centres. The certification of documents and drafting of affidavits are also facilitated at these centres.

Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) Cameras
All campuses are monitored by CCTV cameras on a 24/7 basis. A process is under way to further enhance cameras to cover hotspots. Recently 107 cameras were upgraded to improve the safety of students. The adequacy of lighting was assessed and a process is under way to improve lighting on campuses where weak spots were observed.

Red pole alarms (panic buttons)
Red pole alarms fitted with cameras were installed around the Bloemfontein Campus which are linked to the Operational Centre. Alarms are tested daily and any problems are attended to immediately. A process also under way to install red pole alarms on the South Campus.

Security Patrols
Security patrols are conducted on a daily basis on foot and by vehicles on all campuses to respond to student complaints and for visibility.

Security at residences
Security Officers are deployed around the female residences at night. Monthly liaison meetings are held between Protection Services with Housing and Residence Affairs to discuss areas for improvement and alternative options to ensure security.

Dedicated Investigating Officers
An investigating officer is on standby 24/7 who is available to students and staff who has a fully entrenched relationship with the South African Police Service (SAPS) Investigation Unit. All complaints are fully investigated, and cases being handled by SAPS investigators are also followed up by Protection Services.

Accreditation of off-campus residences
The Housing and Residence Affairs department, in collaboration with Protection Services, has conducted an assessment of off-campus student residences to check whether security at the facilities is adequate.

Student Crime Stop WhatsApp group
A WhatsApp group consisting of students, members of SAPS, the Community Police Forum (CPF), Sector Policing, Protection Services, and armed security companies was set up to share safety and security concerns experienced by students.

Dedicated security and SAPS vehicles deployed at identified hotspots
Security patrols are conducted at areas such as Brandwag, Willows and Universitas, where a large number of students live. In addition, joint crime awareness sessions with the SAPS are held to address issues that arise from time to time.

Distribution of whistles
The whistle project, in collaboration with SAPS, CPF and armed response companies, is currently under way. The UFS has purchased 10 000 whistles which will be distributed to students at all campuses.

Community Police Forum (CPF) membership
The UFS is represented on CPF committees. In the near future a CPF will be established on the Bloemfontein Campus to ensure student participation.

Emergency Services: Bloemfontein Campus
Protection Services: +27 51 401 2911 | +27 51 401 2634 | 0800 204 682
Ambulance: +27 80 005 1051 | 10177
Social worker: +27 73 182 3048
Kovsie Health: +27 51 401 2603

Emergency Services: South Campus
Protection Services: +27 51 505 1217
Ambulance: +27 80 005 1051 | 10177
Social worker: +27 73 182 3048
Kovsie Health: +27 51 401 2603

Emergency Services: Qwaqwa Campus
Protection Services: +27 58 718 5460 | +27 58 718 5175 | +27 58 718 5360
Ambulance: 10177
Social worker: +27 58 718 5090 | +27 58 718 5091
Kovsie Health: +27 58 718 5210

News Archive

Universities can contribute to economic transformation

2010-01-27

At the lecture were, from the left: Prof. Neil Heideman (Acting Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences), Prof. Hartmut Frank (University of Bayreuth, Germany), Prof. Bianchi and Prof. Jan van der Westhuizen (professor in Chemistry at the UFS).
Photo: Mangaliso Radebe

Universities have a role to play in economic transformation and industrial development according to Prof. Fabrizio Bianchi, the Rector of the University of Ferrara in Italy.

This was the core message of his lecture on the topic Globalisation, Agriculture and Industrial Development that he delivered at the University of the Free State.

He said after the collapse of the agricultural industry in Italy as a result of the subsidies that the farmers were receiving from the government, the university had to step in.

“This was meant to maintain high prices and maximize the production but in the long run this approach created problems because the farmers were no longer producing high quality products but large quantities in order to receive subsidies,” he said.

“The result was that the government itself had to destroy those poor quality products. This was a completely unreasonable way to manage the economy”.

He said they had to abandon that approach and concentrate on quality because they realized that Italy could not match the prices and the quantity, in terms of production, of countries like China and the USA.

He said “knowledge and human resources” were the key factors that could get them out of that crisis; hence they came up with what he called “the Made in Italy approach”.

“We were working on the idea that food is part of culture and that it is not just simply for refueling the body,” he said.

“One of the fundamental ideas was to come back to the idea that production is the centre of the development process.”

“Quality is a very complex, collective issue,” he said. “You cannot understand development if you do not understand that you have to base it on strong roots”.

This approach resulted in the formation of several companies with specialized niche markets producing high quality products.

His visit to the UFS coincided with that of the 1991 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Prof. Richard Ernst from Switzerland, who was also part of the fourth presentation of the Cheese fondue concept.

The main thrust of this concept is that technical advances alone are insufficient for an agreement to be reached on the minimum respect between the various groups and individuals within a society. It proposes that for this to be achieved there has to be a concurrent development of empathy and emotional synergy.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
27 January 2010

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