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03 March 2020

The Office for International Affairs (OIA) at the University of the Free State (UFS) implemented the second iteration of its Umoja Buddy Programme (UBP) in 2020. The UBP is a flagship internationalisation-at-home programme aimed at the smooth academic, social, and cultural integration of first-entering international students at the UFS by pairing them with senior UFS students. It offers local students an international experience on the home campus and develops their international and intercultural competence through direct interaction with international students. The UBP contributes to the achievement of the UFS vision, whereby every student will in future have an international experience during their studies at the UFS.


Internationalisation at home

On 13 February 2020, a welcome function themed Echoes of Sophiatown set the tone for this year’s edition. Chevon Slambee, Chief Officer in the OIA and UFS master’s student, welcomed the students and explained the theme of the day. She said that, “as students, we have a responsibility to be active citizens and contribute to change and social transformation”. Programme coordinator Bulelwa Moikwatlhai introduced the function and framework of the programme and highlighted the importance of internationalisation at home. Also in attendance was the Dean of Students, Pura Mgolombane, who encouraged students in his address to honour their heritage, “so that together, we can be able to appreciate one another”. He emphasised the importance of social justice for academic success. The SRC member for the International Student Council, Simba Matheba, expressed his support for the UBP. The UFS Arts, Culture, and Dialogue office provided entertainment at the event.

Umoja Buddy

International and local students mingling at the 2020 Umoja Buddy Programme Welcome Function.

News Archive

Rare tumour removed in groundbreaking surgery
2011-08-06

 

Mr Carel Botes and Prof. Francis Smit with a model of the human heart
Photo: Earl Coetzee

A team of surgeons, headed by Prof Francis Smit, Head of our Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at our Faculty of Health Sciences, performed open heart surgery on a male patient with a malignant tumour.

What makes this operation unique, is that the suspicious mass that was identified in the heart was a rapidly growing and a highly invasive cardiac tumour, which has only been seen in a small number of patients worldwide.

Without the necessary surgery or heart transplant, the prognosis of the patient would have been zero.

The patient, Mr Carl Botes, a 51-year-old farmer from Hoopstad, opted for the tumour to be removed rather than having a heart transplant.  Although both options would involve major risks and challenges, the transplant was the least feasible due to logistics, the waiting list for recipients and the lack of donors.

In the, highly complex, 10-hour operation, performed in the Universitas Academic Hospital in Bloemfontein, the entire right heart chamber had to be removed and the heart reconstructed.

After prolonged hospitalisation of five weeks, Mr Botes was discharged.

Currently he is fully functional and continuing with his active lifestyle.  After three months, all investigations and scans indicate that he is doing very well and has no complaints of fatigue, shortness of breath and palpitations – symptoms which occurred before the removal of the tumour.

For further information contact:
Prof Francis Smit
051-4053861
smitfe@ufs.ac.za
 

Media Release
6 August 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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