Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
14 January 2020
|
Story Lacea Loader
![]()
Notice is hereby given of a meeting of the Convocation of the University of the Free State (UFS) to deal with the following matters:
-
Address by the outgoing President.
- Address by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor.
- Address by the Registrar.
- Election of the President and Vice-President of the Convocation.
- Address by the elected President.
- Representatives of the Convocation on the Executive Committee of the Convocation.
- Vote of thanks by the Vice-President.
Date: 1 February 2020
Time: 09:00
Venue: Equitas Auditorium, UFS Bloemfontein Campus
NOMINATIONS FOR THE POSITIONS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE CONVOCATION, please visit https://www.ufs.ac.za/alumni/alumni-home/convocation/convocation-president
For any enquiries, please contact Mr Nikile Ntsababa, Registrar of the UFS, at Registrar@ufs.ac.za
Largest group on African continent introduced to Sign Language
2016-07-05
The introduction of basic Sign Language
as part of the UFS101 course was a great
success. From left are Susan Lombaard,
Annemarie le Roux, Tshisikhawe Dzivhani
(all from the Department of South African
Sign Language), and Lauren Oosthuizen
(UFS101). Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
As a result of a new initiative at the University of the Free State (UFS), the largest group of students on the African continent took part in a first-year seminar which included Sign Language.
A total of 5400 students on the Bloemfontein Campus and 1000 on Qwaqwa Campus were taught basic Sign Language by Susan Lombaard, Acting Head of the Department of South African Sign Language, and her team members, Tshisikhawe Dzivhani, Annemarie le Roux, and Nicolene de Klerk.
It forms part of the UFS101 module presented to all first-year students. The initiative, begun in the first semester of 2016, will form part of UFS101 in future and was met with an overwhelmingly positive response.
Three segments of course
Sign Language was taught in three segments and positioned as large-class learning experiences in the Callie Human Centre (Bloemfontein Campus) and the Nelson Mandela Hall (Qwaqwa Campus). Students were taught about deaf culture, Sign Language theory, as well as how to sign their names, exchange pleasantries, and have a basic conversation.
A valuable skill to have
“It (the Sign Language experience) was very interesting and helpful,” said one of the students. “It is important to have the ability to communicate with all sorts of people, and to be able to help them in a crisis”. According to another, it sparked an interest in Sign Language. “It is a skill I will continue to use and try to learn more from it,” said a third.
Lombaard – in collaboration with the UFS101 team – will be presenting a paper related to this achievement at the DeafNet Africa Conference in Johannesburg, from 26 to 30 September 2016.