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29 May 2020

Dear Students

I hope that my message finds you well, healthy, and safe. I also hope that you have settled into the online learning environment, that you are regularly in contact with your lecturers, and that you are engaging with your friends and support systems on campus.

Since my last message to you, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that our country will move to Level 3 of the national lockdown on 1 June 2020. Subsequently, Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, announced specific measures for the post-school education sector in response to the COVID-19 epidemic under Level 3, in order to re-integrate staff and students on campus.

Over the past few weeks, a tremendous amount of work has been done to ensure the continuation of the Academic Project and to prepare our campuses for the return of staff and students, ensuring that it is aligned with national directives and protocols. This was no small task and I am immensely proud of what the university has achieved so far.

Under Level 4 of the national lockdown, only final-year students in the MB ChB programme were allowed to return to campus as per the national directive. At the time, it was not possible to allow any other students back on our campuses. Aligned with the national directives, we will now proceed with the return of staff and students to campus based on a phased approach, the principle of social/physical distancing, as well as the fact that a maximum of 33% of the university’s staff and student population may be allowed on campus during Level 3 of the national lockdown as per the national directive. Only academic and support staff involved in the academic programme for students returning to campus, will be allowed on campus from 1 June 2020, while the rest of the staff will continue working from home.

The phased in-approach for the return of students is as follows:

1. Student cohort who will be returning to campus:

The next cohort of students who will be returning to campus is final-year students in Nursing and the Allied Health Sciences. These students will receive letters from the Faculty of Health Sciences in due course to enable their return to campus in the first week of June 2020. Thereafter, all Health Sciences students with a clinical rotation component, will be expected to arrive in the second week of June 2020. Other cohorts of students who will receive permits to return to campus before the end of June 2020, are undergraduate and postgraduate students in programmes where laboratory and practical work is needed, as well as students in honours and postgraduate diploma programmes.

The re-integration process will also focus on final-year students registered in programmes associated with a professional body, and students in exit-level modules to be completed in 2020, as well as students who need a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) component in order to complete their qualification. These students will be expected to arrive on campus during the first week of July 2020.

The final return date will be communicated to each individual student by the respective faculties.

Data has shown that there is a small number of students who are not active on Blackboard and/or who have not received an electronic device from the UFS. These students have been identified and will be invited to return to campus by the end of June 2020 for further online learning. In the case of the Qwaqwa Campus, faculties have identified approximately 3 000 students in this category – printed material will be sent to their home addresses. Students with disabilities in all the mentioned categories, as well as those identified as challenged, have been prioritised and will be contacted by the Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS).

Students who do not fall into one of the categories mentioned above, will continue studying online as per the academic calendar.

The full re-integration of students is dependent on national directives on the lifting of the lockdown levels.

2. International students:
International students who are returning to campus will be screened and quarantined in identified government facilities as per the national regulation. Students who cross inter-provincial borders and those who reside in hotspots as stipulated in the national regulations, must adhere to the university’s screening protocols and complete the COVID-19 online screening questionnaire (www.ufs.ac.za/covid19screening) on a daily basis before accessing the campus. If such students show symptoms of COVID-19, they must self-isolate and be tested.

3. Students in residences:
In Level 3 of the national lockdown, students identified as per the academic programmes, may move back into residences where applicable. The residence heads will communicate to those students who may return. Only students who have a permit to enter the campus, and a confirmation to return to the residence will be granted access to the residences. These students must adhere to the compulsory daily screening protocols.

4. Campus readiness:
I want to assure our returning students that your safety, health, and well-being remain our first priority. Tremendous efforts were made to prepare the campuses. This includes the disinfection and deep cleaning (where necessary) of open areas and the hygienic preparation of the campuses. Similarly, lecture halls are also being hygienically prepared to ensure social/physical distancing.

5. Access to campus:
Strict access protocols will be maintained at the campus entrances during Level 3 of the national lockdown. Only staff and students authorised to return to the campuses and issued with authorisation letters from the university’s Department of Human Resources will be granted access to the campuses. The wearing of masks is compulsory when entering the campuses and proof of screening must be provided by completing the COVID-19 online screening questionnaire. These measures will help ensure that it is safe for staff and students to return to our campuses.

The safety, health, and well-being of staff and students and saving lives remain the university’s priority to limit the possibility of spreading COVID-19 on the campus. This is why I believe that the re-integration plan set out above is in the best interest of the entire university community.

During the past two months, more than 1 000 staff members have been trained so far in the university’s remote online strategy and are continuously assisting with improving the learning experience of all our students. Students are encouraged to engage with their lecturers on academic problems or to take it up within the relevant faculty structures so that we can find solutions for you. I want to encourage you to continuously consult the #UFSLearnOn material for
guidance. You can also visit the Digital Life Portal (under the Student Toolbox) on the KovsieLife website.

Just as much as your academic success is important to us, so is your mental health. Make use of the information contained in the #WellnessWarriors campaign of our Department of Student Counselling and Development, which is aimed at encouraging health and well-being among students.

Continuously monitor the university’s official communication platforms to stay up to date with developments. It remains important for our students to be informed about matters of concern to them.

I wish you all the best with your studies.

Best regards

Prof Francis Petersen
Rector and Vice-Chancellor, University of the Free State

News Archive

Inaugural lecture: Prof. Annette Wilkinson
2008-04-16

A strong plea for a pursuit of “scholarship” in higher education

Prof. Annette Wilkinson of the Centre for Higher Education Studies and Development in the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS) made as strong plea for a pursuit of “scholarship” in higher education.

She said in her inaugural lecture that higher education has to deal with changes and demands that necessitate innovative approaches and creative thinking when it concerns effective teaching and learning in a challenging and demanding higher education environment. She referred to a recent research report prepared for the Council for Higher Education (CHE) which spells out the alarming situation regarding attrition rates and graduation output in South African higher education and emphasises factors leading to the situation. These factors include socio-economic conditions and shortcomings in the school and the subsequent under preparedness of a very large proportion of the current student population. However, what is regarded as one of the key factors within the sector’s control is the implementation of strategies for improving graduate output.

She said: “The CHE report expresses concern about academics’ adherence to traditional teaching practices at institutions, which have not changed significantly to make provision for the dramatic increase in diversity since the 1980s.

“Raising the profile of teaching and learning in terms of accountability, recognition and scholarship is essential for successful capacity-building,” she said. “The notion of scholarship, however, brings to the minds of many academics the burden of ‘publish or perish’. In many instances, the pressures to be research-active are draining the value put on teaching. Institutions demand that staff produce research outputs in order to qualify for any of the so-called three Rs – resources, rewards and recognition.

“These have been abundant for research, but scarce when it comes to teaching – with the status of the latter just not on the same level as that of research. From within their demanding teaching environments many lecturers just feel they do not have the time to spend on research because of heavy workloads, that their efforts are under-valued and that they have to strive on the basis of intrinsic rewards.”

She said: “It is an unfortunate situation that educational expertise, in particular on disciplinary level, is not valued, even though in most courses, as in the Programme in Higher Education Studies at the UFS, all applications, whether in assignments, projects or learning material design, are directly applied to the disciplinary context. We work in a challenging environment where the important task of preparing students for tomorrow requires advanced disciplinary together with pedagogical knowledge.”

Prof. Wilkinson argued that a pursuit of the scholarship of teaching and learning holds the potential of not only improving teaching and learning and consequently success rates of students, but also of raising the status of teaching and recognising the immense inputs of lecturers who excel in a very demanding environment. She emphasised that not all teaching staff will progress to the scholarship level or are interested in such an endeavour. She therefore suggested a model in which performance in the area of teaching and learning can be recognised, rewarded and equally valued on three distinct levels, namely the levels of excellence, expertise and scholarship. An important feature of the model is that staff in managerial, administrative and support posts can also be rewarded for their contributions on the different levels for all teaching related work.

Prof. Wilkinson also emphasised the responsibility or rather, accountability, of institutions as a whole, as well as individual staff members, in providing an environment and infrastructure where students can develop to their full potential. She said that in this environment the development of the proficiency of staff members towards the levels of excellence, expertise and scholarship must be regarded as a priority.

“If we want to improve students’ success rates the institution should not be satisfied with the involvement in professional development opportunities by a small minority, but should set it as a requirement for all teaching staff, in particular on entry into the profession and for promotion purposes. An innovative approach towards a system of continuous professional development, valued and sought after, should be considered and built into the institutional performance management system.”

As an example of what can be achieved, Prof. Wilkinson highlighted the work of one of the most successful student support programmes at the UFS, namely the Career Preparation Programme (CPP), implemented fourteen years ago, bringing opportunities to thousands of students without matric exemption. The programme is characterised by dedicated staff, a challenging resource-based approach and foundational courses addressing various forms of under preparedness. Since 1993 3 422 students gained entry into UFS degree programmes after successfully completing the CPP; since 1996 1 014 of these students obtained their degrees, 95 got their honours degrees, 18 their master’s degrees and six successfully completed their studies as medical doctors.

Prof. Wilkinson said: “I believe we have the structures and the potential to become a leading teaching-learning university and region, where excellence, expertise and scholarship are recognised, honoured and rewarded.”

 

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