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UFS partners with national government to train public officials

22 June 2020 | Story Amanda Tongha

The University of the Free State (UFS) will play an instrumental role in equipping senior government officials with skills to fulfil their roles in the delivery of public services. The UFS is one of five higher education institutions that the national government has partnered with to provide management training for public servants across South Africa.

The Minister of Public Service and Administration, Mr Senzo Mchunu, announced on Friday 19 June 2020 that the National School of Government (NSG) will work with the UFS, North-West University, University of Fort Hare, University of the Western Cape, and the Tshwane University of Technology to deliver its Integrated Management Development Programme (IMDP) across the country. The Minister described the IMDP as “a comprehensive professional development framework for public sector supervisors, managers, and leaders, which promotes the application of sound management and leadership principles in a context of people-oriented development and service”.

Working with the NSG – a state training institution tasked to build public sector capacity – the UFS will provide training in various areas of public management.

Dr Lyndon du Plessis, Head of the Department of Public Administration and Management, says the UFS will provide management training at executive level through its Executive Development Programme (EDP), and on supervisory and middle-management level through the Emerging Management Development and Advanced Management Development programmes. This will be presented by the UFS Business School and the Department of Public Administration and Management. The latter will accredit the course content and ensure that experts are available to teach the course.

“It is a feather in the cap of the UFS and the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences that it has been selected together with only four other higher education institutions to provide these programmes. It is the continuation of a long-standing constructive relationship with government in an attempt to improve the quality of public sector management in South Africa, and the faculty is proud to be a role player in this key area.”

• The EDP has catered for about 130 students annually over the past three years.

News Archive

Study Abroad Fair presents exciting opportunities

2013-04-23

Staff and students gain a wealth of information at the first Study Abroad Fair hosted on the Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Stephen Collett
23 April 2013

Kovsie staff and students gained a wealth of information at the first Study Abroad Fair hosted by the Office for International Affairs on the Bloemfontein Campus.

Representatives from partner universities across the USA, Europe and Asia took part in the fair, giving information on study opportunities abroad. They were joined by representatives of international funding agencies and foreign missions from countries including Canada, Indonesia, France and the Republic of Azerbaijan, who gave information on funding opportunities to study overseas.

Welcoming visitors, Ms Dineo Gaofhiwe-Ingram, Assistant Director: Internationalisation, said international education forms a very important and critical part of the university’s strategy of aiming and working towards becoming a research intensive university.

“I believe all here understand and know the value of an international education, both as a donor agency, as an embassy that has bilateral agreements with the South African government to support education, and as a staff member that is here with students to encourage them to go abroad. It is important that our staff and students get to learn and experience from others and others from them.”

Dr Choice Makhetha, Vice-Rector: External Relations, encouraged Kovsies “to visit the world and bring the world back to the UFS.”

Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, had a similar message, talking about the advantages of seeing the world. “You never get to be a good leader unless your sense of the world is bigger than yourself. My goal is to make sure that almost every undergraduate student has some experience of studying abroad.“

List of Exhibitors who took part in the Study Abroad Fair:

1. Funding Agencies
Embassy of USA
Embassy of France
Embassy of The Republic of Azerbaijan
European Union
Embassy of Canada
National Research Foundation (NRF)
Embassy of Switzerland
Embassy of Indonesia
Czech Republic Embassy
Research Africa
British Council

2. Partner Universities Abroad
Mahasarakham University (Thailand)
Appalachian State University (USA)
University of Brussels
Radboud University Nijmegen
The Hague University of Applied Sciences
University of Bremen
VU University Amsterdam
University of Groningen
University of Antwerp
University of Leuven
Jönköping University

3. UFS Representation
Postgraduate School (UFS)
Office for International Affairs (UFS)
Faculty of Education (UFS)
Department of Plant Sciences (UFS)
Department of Social Work (UFS)

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