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New UFS programme to partner with communities in taking charge of their lives during and after COVID-19

17 July 2020 | Story Nitha Ramnath | Photo iStock

community engagement_read more — The UFS initiated a new community engagement programme to help communities take charge of their lives.

The University of the Free State (UFS) is launching a new community engagement programme to help communities take charge of their lives during and after the national lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The E-Community Engagement Programme will run for the duration of the lockdown to ensure that the UFS continues to serve all people. This programme is one of more than 120 community development programmes and projects that the UFS is involved with this year.

Rev Billyboy Ramahlele, Director: Community Engagement, says this strategy is the result of the Institutional Transformation Plan, which seeks to deepen the university’s commitment towards the betterment of our communities by creating sustainable partnerships for development. “This programme is dedicated to assisting communities to take charge of their lives during and after this pandemic and will focus on sustainable livelihoods and family support”, he says.

With these community development programmes and projects, about 3 000 UFS students spend at least 127 000 hours per year engaging in 73 service-learning modules. This excludes the clinical work done by our medical and education students in the community through community-based education and inter-professional learning. The university’s 22 student volunteer associations play an important role in community development projects. Our academics and researchers contribute their intellectual resources through their involvement, teaching, and research in different aspects of community life.

The E-Community Engagement Programme refers to an alternative online/virtual community engagement platform aimed at facilitating continuously negotiated collaborations and partnerships between the UFS and the interest groups that it interacts with, aimed at building and exchanging the knowledge, skills, expertise, and resources required to develop and sustain society. Such alternative engagement stems from adapting physical face-to-face (f2f) community engagement to an e-environment. As a result of the uncertain state of restricted f2f engagement during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of participation, dialogue, engaged learning, and teaching by university staff and students is on citizens actively participating in the development of their own lives and that of their surrounding communities.

Details of the E-Community Engagement Programme will soon be published on the UFS website, and will be presented on radio and online in partnership with Motheo FM, Mosupatsela FM, Kovsie FM, Mangaung Municipality, Towers of Hope, Princess Gabo Foundation, Rock Foundation, Bloemshelter, and all our faculties.

News Archive

Applications for the Vice-Chancellor's Prestige Programme for 2013/2014 now open

2012-12-06

This highly prestigious programme, led by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State, seeks to identify, develop and promote the next cohort of the most promising and talented UFS academic members of staff who obtained a doctoral degree within the last five years. These are young scholars who have chosen academic careers and who are focused and determined to become senior academics in their respective disciplines.

Once identified, these scholars will be put through an intensive programme of academic and scholarship support that includes an advanced residential programme, exposure to leading scholars, intensive reading and writing programmes, high-level seminar participation and presentation, nuanced publication schedules and personal mentoring and advice.

The selection process is highly competitive, and aimed at those young scholars with the potential to obtain upper-level ratings (Y1 and P). The selection criteria include the following:(1)

1. Recently obtained a PhD degree.

2. Evidence of an active publication record.
3. Early recognition of scholarly work, e.g. successful funding/grant applications and academic awards.
4. The early development of a post-doctoral intellectual project that shows evidence of scholarly “potential” (defined by the NRF Y-category).
5. Indication of the young scholar’s understanding of what their envisaged postdoctoral endeavours will contribute to the body of knowledge.

This period of support will run over a cycle of two years after which a new intake of next generation professors will be selected.

While this cohort will be selected for an intensive programme, ongoing development and support of all young scholars will continue. The selected scholars will reflect a balance of young academics from the humanities (broadly defined, including education, law, theology and the social sciences) and the natural sciences (broadly defined, including the agricultural and health sciences).

Call for Applications

This is a call for applications for the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Programme for 2013/2014. Candidates are invited to submit applications. No nomination is required, but deans and heads of department will also be asked to invite young scholars to apply. Complete applications are due by Monday 21 January 2013. A full application will include the following documentation:

1. A complete curriculum vitae of the candidate.
2. A complete exercise of intent comprising the following:
2.1   Select two journal articles (copies of which to accompany the application) in the area you have identified for your intellectual focus post PhD. These articles have to be selected from journals of international standing in your field.
2.2   The articles need to be summarised (250 words each), and
2.3   Two questions have to be identified that you would want to pursue in relation to your intended project.
2.4   This is followed by a brief, critical summary of a hundred lines maximum to indicate how these articles inform, integrate or provoke your planned future research.

Submission and contact address

A paper copy of the application must be submitted to the Vice-Chancellor’s secretary, Ms Melissa Coetzee, in the Main Building by 16:00 on Monday 21 January 2013 and an electronic copy of your entire application to the administrative assistant, Mr Albert Nell:nella@ufs.ac.za. You will be contacted to acknowledge receipt. Candidates will be informed of the outcome in February. Further information on the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholar Programme can be directed at any of the following co-directors (in alphabetical order):

Prof Jackie du Toit, Prof Neil Roos, Prof Aldo Stroebel or Prof Corli Witthuhn.

[1] The VC reserves the right to nominate young scholars to the programme and also to invite scholars to a panel interview to evaluate personal qualities, professional commitment and academic ambition.

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