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UFS implements measures for staff to manage the national lockdown

24 March 2020

UFS implements measures for staff to manage the national lockdown

MESSAGE BY PROF FRANCIS PETERSEN, RECTOR AND VICE-CHANCELLOR

Dear Colleagues

I hope that you are keeping a level of calmness in this difficult and exceptional time. The announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 23 March 2020 that South Africa will enter a nationwide lockdown for 21 days from midnight on Thursday 26 March 2020 to midnight on Thursday 16 April 2020, has left many of our staff members anxious. It has, on the other hand, made South Africans work together towards the common goal of flattening the COVID-19 curve so as to ease the immediate pressure on the country’s health system.

My message to you this evening is to explain the measures implemented by the executive management of the University of the Free State (UFS) to manage the lockdown.

1. Essential services
As you know, only essential services will be allowed to continue operating nationally. This also applies to our three campuses.

During a meeting of university vice-chancellors with Universities South Africa (USAf) this morning, it was indicated that only services classified as essential (e.g. safety and security services) may continue during the lockdown period.

There are, however, critical university operations such as Information Technology, the Animal Sciences Unit, key laboratory and research services, which are currently not formally accredited with the relevant authorities to access the university during lockdown. USAf is raising this as a matter of urgency with the inter-ministerial committee of the Presidential Command Centre.

I will keep these functions updated on the progress made by USAf over the next 24 hours, but as it stands now, these functions would not be able to access our campuses during lockdown.

2. Closing of the campuses
All three campuses will close as from 16:00 on Thursday 26 March 2020. Only staff providing accredited essential services (i.e. security staff and emergency maintenance services) will continue working from Thursday 26 March 2020 onwards. This means that no one will be able to access the campuses after 16:00 on Thursday unless they form part of the accredited essential services.

Only the main gates of the campuses will be open; there will be strict access control, including a register to sign in and out. Only staff belonging to those functions that are vetted by the relevant authorities will be allowed access onto our campuses. Further communication in this regard will be sent by the Department of Human Resources to all members of senior management to share with staff on Wednesday 25 March 2020.

However, it needs to be noted that the national security protocols will surpass these arrangements if and when needed.

The respective deans will make arrangements with staff involved in research projects that need attending to, those who have to check research equipment, and those who work in certain laboratories – all barring prior accreditation by the relevant authorities.

3. Residences
Most students have vacated the residences, except for a small number of postdoctoral and international students who will remain on campus during lockdown. The Office for International Affairs and the Department of Housing and Residence Affairs are providing the necessary support to this group of students.

4. Academic programme
The University of the Free State is committed to continue and complete the academic programme. I want our students and their parents/guardians to rest assured that the university’s Teaching and Learning Management Group (TLMG) is working hard to develop alternative ways of presenting the learning and teaching programme.

The university’s online engagement with students will start on Monday 20 April 2020. Until then, the best possible support for lecturers and students will be created by adapting existing support and practices most suited to our new online environment.

Please look out for the information relating to the Keep Calm, Teach On and #UFSLearnOn campaigns managed on the university’s communication platforms by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in cooperation with the Department of Communication and Marketing.

5. Continuation of university operations
Within the context of this uncertain time, we should remain focused on the continuation of university operations. Therefore, the concept of working from home remains. The lockdown period is perceived as special leave, as it is deemed that staff members are in fact at work; therefore, application for leave does not have to be submitted. Additional arrangements will be made with staff members providing essential and other designated critical services, which will be communicated by the relevant line managers.

6. Communication platforms
I encourage you to remain in contact with the university by regularly monitoring the communication platforms for important and/or critical information. You will find all the COVID-19 related information on this webpage. Other communication platforms for our staff during the lockdown include the UFS social media platforms, SMS, the KovsieApp, and the Newsflash.

It is important for staff to ensure that their cellphone numbers are updated in order to receive communication via the KovsieApp and SMS:

KovsieApp: www.ufs.ac.za/kovsieapp
SMS: www.ufs.ac.za/sms

As we realise that circumstances could change rapidly, the UFS Coronavirus (COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2) Task Team and the Special Executive Group will continue our frequent discussions to assess the global and national situation – during and after the lockdown.

I encourage you to remain calm, as this is a difficult and extraordinary time not only for our country, but for the entire world. It is a time for us to think differently about what we do and how we do it, and also a time to take a step back and #StayAtHome in the best interest of the many communities around us.

Thank you to each and every staff member for your dedication and commitment over the past few weeks. We will get through this national and global health crisis.

Be safe, look after yourself, and take preventative steps to avoid contracting the virus during this period of national lockdown.

News Archive

New guidelines to increase diversity in student residences at the UFS

2007-06-08

As from 2008, the University of the Free State (UFS) will implement new policy guidelines for student residences so as to increase diversity on the Main Campus of the UFS in Bloemfontein.

These new policy guidelines were approved by the Council of the UFS today (Friday 8 June 2007) after consultations with a range of stakeholders, especially students currently in residences, student leaders and student organisations, with inputs received from alumni and parents as well.

According to a statement by the Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke, and the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof. Frederick Fourie, the guidelines are based on an educational rationale with a definite educational objective.

“What the UFS seeks to do with these new policy guidelines, is to overcome the racial divides of the past and equip students in residences with the knowledge and skills to understand people from other cultures, appreciate other languages and to respect differences in religion but also economic background,” Judge Hancke and Prof. Fourie said in their statement.

“This will give students in UFS residences a distinct advantage over many other work seekers in South Africa, because the workplace today is a very diverse place with people of many backgrounds,” Judge Hancke and Prof. Fourie said in their statement.
They said the UFS wanted to establish a new model of residence life in which students will voluntarily embrace diversity and learn about diversity so as to add value to their educational experience in a residence.

In the late 1990s the UFS made the first attempt to integrate its residences which led to violent clashes between white and black students. A compromise agreement was reached based on freedom of association but this has over the years led to the current situation of largely white and largely black residences.

To support students during the implementation of the new policy guidelines, the management of the UFS will establish several mechanisms and programmes for students to empower them, to build their capacity and to facilitate a smooth transition to a new model of student life in the residences.

Judge Hancke and Prof. Fourie said the decision is another important milestone in the ongoing transformation of the UFS and in the provision of quality higher education for all UFS students, and that the decision had been taken in the best interests of the students.

“This is a very carefully managed transition to bring about a non-racial character to our student residences in line with the Constitution and the ethos of a democratic South Africa,” Judge Hancke and Prof. Fourie said.

How the new policy will work in practice

As from 2008, the new policy aims to bring about an important shift in the way first-years are placed in a residence. From 2008 first-year students are to be placed to achieve a minimum diversity level of 30% in each junior residence.

In senior residences a mix of approximately 50-50 will be the goal from 2008.
Residences will be responsible for placing 50% of first-years, which gives them the scope to increase diversity. The university’s accommodation service will place the other 50%. All these placements must occur in accordance with the educational rationale and the related diversity objective.

If a residence cannot reach the diversity objectives, the university will use the 50% of placements that it controls to achieve sufficient diversity in a particular residence.

Support mechanisms for students

According to Dr Ezekiel Moraka, Vice-Rector: Student Affairs, students in the residences will not be left on their own to deal with the issues of diversity. The management of the UFS has identified several important areas where the process may need support, especially in the early stages of implementation. Students and student leadership will be involved in the further design and finalisation of the implementation details.

These areas where support will be finalised are the following:

Providing properly trained and qualified personnel (such as live-in wardens, residence heads etc.) to supervise the implementation of the policy on a 24-hour basis;
Ongoing orientation workshops for all students in residences to deal with diversity in a mature way;
Support to deal with language issues, including interpreting services so that language rights of all students can be respected; and
Assistance with the review of residence governance, administrative and other procedures that have been used in residences up to now.

“There can therefore be no doubt that the management is committed to the well-supported and successful implementation of this new policy and to giving the best possible education to all our students,” Judge Hancke and Prof Fourie said.

Download the policy .

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
8 June 2007

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