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08 June 2020 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Sonia Small
Prof Francis Petersen is one of the leaders in a prestigious international panel for a COVID-19 webinar involving Uganda, the Netherlands, and Morocco.

 

Webinar details
Date: Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Time: 13:00 South African time (14:00 East African Standard Time)

Webinar link: https://www.ruforum.org/introductory-note-webinar-1
To participate register here

University leaders from Africa and beyond will take part in a Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) webinar on Wednesday, 10 June, to look at universities’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State, will be one of four panellists who will be the main speakers of the day. He is the only panellist from South Africa. 

Prof Petersen will participate alongside university leaders such as Prof Arthur Mol, Rector Magnificus of Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands, Mr Hicham el Habti, Secretary General at the Mohammed VI Polytechnique University (UM6P) in Morocco, as well as Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice-Chancellor of the Makerere University in Uganda. 

Getting together with other university leaders from the continent and abroad, speakers will share insights from their respective countries in dealing with the pandemic. The webinar takes place on 10 June 2020 at 13:00 South African time (14:00 East African Standard Time)

RUFORUM is a consortium of 46 universities in Eastern, Central, Western, and Southern Africa mandated to oversee graduate training and networks of specialisation in the countries and universities where it works. 

What is the webinar about?
The RUFORUM webinar titled ‘Learning from a crisis: University leaders’ response to the COVID-19 Pandemic', aims to tackle issues such as the immediate needs of universities, including staff realignment, dealing with the digital divide in the student community, institutional finance for operations and innovations in a changing landscape, and international students in a crisis moment. 

This webinar provides a great opportunity to galvanise collective responses from university leaders on this pandemic. It brings together universities from within and outside Africa on lessons learnt in confronting the immediate challenges and how they are resetting for a long-term perspective in the ‘new normal’. Interactions during this webinar will hopefully lead to a consensus on strengthening collective response and how universities can leverage one another in terms of the best practices and resources.  

The impact of the Coronavirus on higher learning institutions 
Given the devastation caused by COVID-19 across the world since its outbreak in China in December 2019, the impact has been felt in all spheres of the economy and global operations. Universities have also seen significant interruptions, including the UFS. Recently, RUFORUM conducted a study on the readiness of African universities to respond to COVID-19 and other natural disasters. This was meant to determine the level of preparedness of our institutions in facing this global pandemic and how to move forward as a continent while preserving the quality of the higher education that we deliver.  

The webinar will build on those findings and project a way forward in this unchartered territory of diminished financial resources, personal and academic challenges for staff, students, and institutional systems, the urgent need for improved infrastructure to respond to the demand for blended learning as well as remote learning approaches, and the limited mobility of students, academic and other staff, among others. Addressing these issues resulted in collaborations such as those initiated by RUFORUM.




News Archive

UFS becomes partner of national bursary competition for the performing arts
2008-11-28

The Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of the Free State (UFS) has become a partner of the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) and the Dramatic, Artistic, and Literary Rights Organisation’s (DALRO) new bursary programme for the performing arts.

The ACT DALRO Scholarship Programme will be implemented for the first time in 2009. For the following three years (2009-2011) one learner will receive
R75 000 per year that will be used to pay for his/her studies to an accredited undergraduate tertiary institution of their choice in the performing arts.

Grade 12 learners are invited to participate in the national competition where their abilities to act, sing and dance will be judged. Individuals who already matriculated and who are not registered for a formal course in the performing arts, are also encouraged to participate. Schools, drama clubs and colleges may also register a group of learners.

An elimination round of the competition will take place next year on 21 and 22 July 2009 at the Scaena Theatre on the UFS Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

The registration fee is R200 per participant and a limited number of registrations will be subsidised. The closing date for the applications for subsidies is 31 March 2009 and registration of individuals and/or organisations is 30 April 2009.

Register at the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the UFS or fax the necessary documents to 051 401 3494. Application forms, rules and requirements to prepare for the competition can be requested from kamperm.hum@ufs.ac.za or fax a request to 051 401 3493.

Finalists must be available for the final round that will take place in September 2009 in Johannesburg. ACT will carry the cost of the transport and accommodation of the finalists for the final round.

Ms Marijda Kamper can be contacted at 051 401 2160 or kamperm.hum@ufs.ac.za  for more information regarding the Free State round. Mr Pieter Jacobs can be contacted at 011 802 7646 or pieter@act.org.za for general enquiries about the ACT Programme, or visit www.act.org.za .


Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
28 November 2008
 

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