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12 March 2020 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Supplied
Student Governance dialogue session
The UFS Student Governance office aims to motivate engaged scholarship among students and academia, to act as a reservoir of excellence in governance, and shape an excellent landscape of leadership.

“I’m anticipating philosophical discussions that will unpack moral courage, ethics in leadership, and governance,” said UFS Manager for Student Governance, Buti Mnyakeni, in opening the Division of Student Affairs’ first annual Student Governance Leadership Series (SGL) at the University of the Free State (UFS). 

The Student Governance office intends to encourage engaged scholarship among students and academia to produce a broader landscape of equipped student leaders from the university. 

UFS Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement, Prof Puleng LenkaBula, joined by former SRC President, Phiwe Mathe, and student leaders Sam Masingi and Amanda Charles, provided rich and provoking contributions under the theme The concept of good governance. On the first day of the series, the discourse kicked off with problematising the concept, and further led to egocentrism, and Afrocentric modalities of governance. 

The panel also unpacked the exclusivity of governmental systems by discussing institutional and managerial culture, which according to them, results in detached knowledge and ways of thinking. 

Day two of the series focused on discussions around moral courage in the era of ethical decay. Attorney of the High Court and International Economic Law Lecturer at the UFS, Mmiselo Qumba; former Vice-President of the SRC, Bokang Fako; former president of the SRC, Richard Chemaly; and freelance writer, broadcaster, author, and communicator, Ace Moloi, engaged extensively on the influence of personal values on shared ethical standards as a vehicle that can lead to a socially just community and society.

The SGL series established a platform to encourage current and prospective student leaders to reflect, connect, and be innovative in their design thinking as leaders in their respective governance structures.

The Programme Director for the event, Adv Thanduxolo Nkala – an accredited mediator in commercial and court-annexed mediation – reflected on the dialogues as “rich and robust.”

News Archive

National U21 Hockey Player of the Year is a Kovsie
2015-09-16

 
The best U21 hockey player in the country
for 2015, Nicole Walraven

Nicole Walraven, a student at the University of the Free State (UFS), had a pleasant surprise waiting for her on 29 August 2015. She had participated at the Women's Interprovincial Tournament in Potchefstroom, and watching the finals from the stands with her family when the announcement was made.

“They announced that they were going to award South Africa’s (SA) Under-21 player of the year. It did not even go through my head that I could stand a chance of winning it. Then next minute, I hear my name being called. ”

“To win such an amazing award means so much to me. To be acknowledged as SA Under-21 player of the year of the entire country is still something that hasn't sunk in yet; I still can't believe it,” remarked Nicole.

Prior to this tournament, the 20-year-old was selected by the South African Hockey Association to represent South Africa, at senior level, at the World League in Spain and has again made the senior squad for selection to play in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in October.

Nicole, a descendant of hockey players, is ambitious about winning the Africa Cup, which would open doors to the Rio Olympics.  “It is my biggest dream to go to the Olympics. If I had the chance to go, I would be the 4th generation Olympian in my family,” she said.

In addition to her family, the final-year BA Human Movement Sciences student, credits her lecturers for her ability to juggle academics and a thriving sports career successfully.

“I owe it to my lecturers and the University for making it possible for me to pursue my dream as well as my studies,” she said, “It hasn't been easy, and I've had to make a lot of sacrifices but it's most definitely worth it.”

Also representing Kovsies on the SA Women’s Hockey team are Liné Malan and Tanya Britz.

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