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ARU strengthens ties with Japanese universities

12 March 2020 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah

Japan UFS Afromontane Research Unit research collaboration — Dr Melissa Hansen (left) with ARU guest researchers. They are, from the left: Gema Carlota Cubelos Perez, Emilie Jones, Ven Paolo Valenzuela, Kanako Matsuyama (International Christian University), and Dr Kudo Shogo.

Research ties between the University of the Free State, the University of Tokyo, and the International Christian University strengthened when the Japanese scholars visited the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) on the Qwaqwa Campus.

“The visiting delegation is part of the larger research group on sustainability studies that has been sharing research expertise with the Afromontane Research Unit’s researchers over the past three years,” said Dr Kudo Shogo, Assistant Professor from the University of Tokyo’s Graduate Programme in Sustainability Science – Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI).

Entrepreneurship in Qwaqwa
“Our focus this time is on entrepreneurs who have had exposure to megacities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town, and who are finding themselves back in places like Qwaqwa. We have discovered that they actually find Qwaqwa more resourceful than when they left. Two to three years of unstable living in the cities gave them a fresh view to see the many opportunities in Qwaqwa and they then start their businesses. Talking to the Qwaqwa entrepreneurs has been a great learning experience for all of us,” he added.

The visiting scholars conducted interviews with 10 local entrepreneurs to get a sense of how they use entrepreneurship for sustainability purposes.

“We are pleased by the local people’s understanding that local problems require local solutions. I would really like to contribute to these people’s understanding of how these solutions fit the problems better than solutions that come from outside. We have quite a number of voices talking about empowering Qwaqwa, with the emphasis on creating jobs for Qwaqwa, solving the problems that Qwaqwa is facing. I have found education to be a unifying factor through tutoring, after-school classes, mentorship, and the personal imperative of sharing,” said Emilie Jones, originally from the United States of America and now studying for a master’s degree in Sustainability Science focusing on water supply and resources.

Education and arts empower communities
“Most of the entrepreneurs we spoke to have experience of the big cities. For them, Qwaqwa is very close to the heart and is home. There are challenges, but they are doing their best to empower their community with ideas and skills from the big cities. They provide services such as education and arts to empower the community to come up with a local identity,” said a PhD candidate, Ven Paolo Valenzuela from the Philippines.

“I was impressed with the people who realise the opportunities to identify problems and even come up with solutions themselves. A lot of communities can learn from this,” said Gema Carlota Cubelos Perez, a PhD candidate originally from Spain.

Their host, Dr Melissa Hansen, Lecturer from the Department of Geography, said the visit was part of the bigger study on migration and sustainable development. “This was a Global Field Exercise (GFE) for teaching research methods in the field. We found that Qwaqwa is overflowing with potential for entrepreneurship in a wide variety of fields and that there is a strong, vibrant network of young individuals brimming with talent. We are learning from each other, as Akita City in Japan and Qwaqwa are similar in more ways than one,” she said.

One of the entrepreneurs, Refiloe Seekane, is a self-taught fashion designer, choreographer, and event coordinator. “The interview has actually made me realise the gaps we have for business opportunities in Qwaqwa and the importance of implementing some of the projects I have been planning for years,” said Seekane, a second-year Education student and CEO of Evomind.

News Archive

Central SRC constitution for UFS approved by Council

2005-07-20

University of the Free State Fact Sheet

1. The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) on 10 June 2005 unanimously approved the establishment of a Central Student Representative Council (CSRC) to constitute a legitimate basis for the democratic participation of students of all three of its campuses in the governance of the university.

2. In a major breakthrough and transformation step for student governance, the Central SRC will include representatives of the main campus in Bloemfontein, the Vista Bloemfontein campus and the Qwaqwa campus of the UFS.

3. The need to establish the Central SRC follows the incorporation of the Qwaqwa campus into the UFS in January 2003 and the incorporation of the Vista campus in Bloemfontein into the UFS in January 2004.

4. The constitution of the Central SRC is the outcome of a consensus reached during a lengthy process of negotiation between the SRCs of the three UFS campuses, indirectly involving diverse student formations such as Sasco, ANCYL, YCL, Pasma, SASO, SADESMO, AZASCO, SCO, HEREXVII, KovsieAlliance, ACDP, etc. Independent constitutional and political experts facilitated key parts of the negotiation process.

5. In this process, the UFS management went out of its way to ensure the participation of all student formations, especially Sasco and the ANC Youth League, as well as the duly elected SRC officials of the three campuses.

6. With the establishment of a Central SRC, the UFS has adopted a federal student governance model whereby the CSRC is the highest representative student body on matters of common concern for all students. The three campuses of the UFS will retain SRC structures for each campus with powers and responsibilities for matters affecting the particular campus.

7. The central SRC will have 12 members made up of delegates of the different campus SRCs, including the presidents of these three SRCs. In total, the main campus will have 5 representatives, the Qwaqwa campus will have 4 representatives and the Vista campus will have 3 representatives. This ratio ensures a strong voice for the smaller campuses in the central SRC.

8. This arrangement will be reviewed after a year to make allowance for the phasing out of undergraduate (pipeline) students at the Vista campus, as was agreed in the negotiations preceding the incorporation of that campus into the UFS.

9. From these 12 members a central SRC president will be chosen on a quarterly basis to represent the general student body at Executive Management, Senate and Council.

10. The historic official inauguration of the first Central SRC is scheduled to take place in early August 2005.

11. This event, like the adoption of a broadly negotiated new constitution for the main campus SRC, represents a breakthrough in that all three campus SRCs delegations and all relevant student organizations have been part of the process and have accepted the outcome of the process.

20 July 2005

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