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01 January 2020
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Story Eugene Seegers
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Photo Kaleidoscope Studios | Sonia Small
Dr Maria Madiope took over the reins of the UFS South Campus at the beginning of January 2020.
The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the appointment of Dr Maria ‘Marinkie’ Madiope as Principal of the South Campus for Open Distance Learning (ODL) during a meeting held on 20 September 2019. Dr Madiope took over the reins of the UFS South Campus at the beginning of January 2020.
Educator at heart
Educating and empowering others are key aspects of Dr Madiope's life. She has served as the Director for University Teaching and Learning at Unisa since 2015 and takes her role incredibly seriously, achieving a transformative curriculum at the colleges under her care since her appointment.
Dr Madiope holds a PhD in Education from Unisa, with a specialisation in Didactics; her next two degrees where completed at the then RAU, which is today known as the University of Johannesburg: a BEd in 1999, followed by an MEd in 2001, both specialising in Computer-based Instruction. She previously obtained her BA Ed in 1985 and a BEd in 1988 from the University of the North. Her initial training as a teacher was from the Hebron College of Education from 1980-81.
Dr Madiope is also the editor of the only journal in ODL, Progressio, since 2016. Her expertise in E-learning is another of her strong points. Together with her team, Dr Madiope designed and developed the first online course in Curriculum Transformation, which is being piloted at Unisa. Her work has been rewarded with awards such as the Unisa Gender Activism: Advocacy and Promotion of Women’s Rights 2013, Unisa Woman of the Year 2013, and Unisa Best Performer 2013.
Dr Madiope brings with her a wealth of experience to UFS and her vision is to increase access to a wider base of learners with potentially having more African learners enrolled. The first point of call would be to have more learners coming from Lesotho and then the rest of the SADEC region, having the UFS become a leading distance-learning university. One of the key projects that Dr Madiope wishes to tackle is early childhood development. “I believe in educating educators to ensure that they are best equipped to provide the latest and relevant Early childhood and development practices that are on par with the rest of the world,” she says.
Community leader
In addition to being an experienced educator and administrator, Dr Madiope is instrumental in community projects that lie close to her heart. Whether it is large-scale advocacy for women’s rights or her personal involvement in the supply of sanitary towels for schoolgirls as part of a programme to empower the girl child through exposing them to options, it is humbling to watch her compassion in action.
She further intends to strengthen the relationship of the university with TVET Colleges and community colleges by providing mutually beneficial programmes that will up-skill those colleagues by giving them an opportunity to work with experienced UFS staff members. She says, “Reaching out to colleagues in TVET and Community colleges will offer them the opportunity to advance their lecturing and learning programmes, which will only lead to benefiting their learners and South Africa as a whole.”
Afrikaans speakers should think differently, says Coenie de Villiers
2016-06-08
Coenie de Villiers was the speaker at the DF Malherbe
Memorial Lecture, held in the Equitas Building on the
University of the Free State Bloemfontein Campus on
24 May 2016.
Photo: Stephen Collett
Do not ask what can be done for your language, but what your language can do for others. With this adaptation of the late John F. Kennedy’s famous words, Coenie de Villiers stressed that the onus for the survival of their language rests with Afrikaans speakers.
According to the television presenter and singer, the real empowerment of Afrikaans does not necessarily take place in parliament. He was the speaker at the DF Malherbe Memorial Lecture, presented in the Equitas Building on the University of the Free State Bloemfontein Campus on 24 May 2016. The lecture by De Villiers, a UFS alumnus, was titled Is Afrikaans plesierig? ’n Aweregse blik.
Government not the only scapegoat
He used Kennedy’s famous phrase, Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country, as framework. “I believe that, if we reverse our sights and do not ask what the world can do for Afrikaans, but ask for a change what Afrikaans – and in particular each and every user thereof – can do for others, then we have, in good English terms, ‘a fighting chance’ that Afrikaans will not only survive, but that it will thrive.” He said it would be too easy to just blame the government’s language policy and/or its lack of application for the language’s uncertainties.
Speakers should act correctly
He said the actions of speakers, sometimes motivated by a love for the language, often causes more damage. “It is not the language that should squirm under the microscope. It isn’t Afrikaans that is being tested: it is us, the speakers, writers, thinkers, doers, and tweeters of the language that are being measured.”
De Villiers believes one should stand up for your language without hesitation or fear, but not necessarily in the middle of the road, and never in such a way that you abandon the moral compass of humanity.
Language will live on
He told the audience that Afrikaans speakers should maintain their language every day with the merit, humanity, and respect that they believe the language – and they themselves – deserve. The language will “live on as long as we use it to laugh, and talk, and sing, and do not kill it off with rules and directives.”