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22 October 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied
Dr Marankie Swinfen was awarded the Dean’s medal for achieving the best results in respect of a master’s degree in the Faculty of Health Sciences during the year 2019.

Dr Marankie Swinfen, who was awarded the Dean’s medal in the faculty of Health Sciences of the University of the Free State (UFS) at the recent virtual graduation (6-9 October 2020), says she was completely surprised by this award and was unaware that it existed. 

Dr Swinfen, who teaches Clinical Skills to second- and third-year medical students at the UFS and received a master’s degree in Health Professions Education, says the road to obtaining her qualification was quite a bumpy ride and difficult at times.

The Dean’s medal is awarded to the student who achieved the best results in respect of a master’s degree in the Faculty of Health Sciences during the year 2019. 

“Through God’s grace, the patience of my supervisors and an eleventh hour burst of energy I managed to reach the goal,” says Dr Swinfen. 

In her dissertation title; A Student Review of Doctor Patient Communication Skills Training in The UFS Undergraduate Medical Programme she asked medical students to review the training of doctor-patient communication skills during their undergraduate programme. 

Students gave valuable insights

Says Dr Swinfen: “I was pleasantly surprised at the response rate and the students’ level of engagement in the study. They gave valuable insights into the strengths of the communication skills training and highlighted areas where the training can be improved. For instance, they accentuated the need to have more practical training in breaking bad news and managing language and cultural differences in the consultation.” 

According to Dr Swinfen she undertook this study because as an undergraduate medical student, she never formally received training in doctor-patient communication. During her postgraduate diploma in Palliative Medicine, they had role-play sessions in breaking bad news, which opened her eyes to the importance of practical, interactive communication skills training. 

“I wanted to explore how useful students find aspects of doctor-patient communication skills training in the current UFS undergraduate medical training programme.”

Challenges on her journey 

Dr Swinfen says the biggest struggle for her during her studies, was self-discipline and setting aside enough time for research. She also had formal modules to complete and found that she would devote more time and energy to these modules than to research (Especially due to having inspirational teachers such as Dr Chantel van Wyk at HPE).  

“I also had become very rusty in terms of research methodology and had to start again with the ‘ABC’ of research. I was greatly helped by Postgraduate School courses such as using Microsoft Word in research. My supervisors, Prof Mathys Labuschagne and Prof Gina Joubert had immense patience with me and saw potential in my research that I could often not see myself.”


News Archive

Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice: cultivating humanity
2014-12-15

Directors of university centres focusing on Social Justice, Diversity and Transformation met at the UFS to establish the Directors' Forum. The forum discussed the state of higher education transformation in South Africa  The forum consists of (from the left) Mr Allan Zinn from the The Centre for the Advancement of Non-racialism and Democracy at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Profs Melissa Steyn from Wits University's Centre for Diversity Studies,  Andre Keet Director of the The Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice at the University of the Free State; Rozena Maart  from The Centre for Critical Research on Race and Identity  at the University of KwaZulu Natal and Mr JC van der Merwe, researcher at the UFS Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice
Photo: O'Ryan Heideman

The Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice at the University of the Free State (UFS) provides a critical space that brings different voices, ideas and practices together to advance the Human and Academic Projects of the university. Students, staff and community members meet here to find ways to engage with diverse views, realities and aspirations.

“We cultivate humanity so that reconciliation and social justice can be expressed in our everyday life and we work against disrespect and inequalities on our campuses and in our society,” says Prof André Keet, Director of the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice.

“Through our various critical conversations, public lectures, seminars and colloquia, fresh understandings and ideas come to the fore and new inclusive ways of doing life in a local and global multicultural society are invented,” Prof Keet says. A host of international experts formed part of the institute’s events during 2014.

Dr Charles Alexander (University of California), Prof Halleh Ghorashi (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Prof Alex Hinton (Rutgers University), Dr Shirley Anne Tate (University of Leeds) and Prof Susan Spearey (Brock University) were but a few of the international experts contributing to the work of the institute during the last year.

“We play key roles in transformation debates within Higher Education South Africa (HESA) and ministerial processes,” Prof Keet says. “We promote, protect and monitor human rights across our campuses and are frequently requested to support the work of the South African Human Rights Commission and to provide advice to other state agencies.”

The institute prides itself on their leading-edge research on social cohesion, reconciliation, human rights and higher education transformation. In addition, staff of the institute teaches, on invitation, at various faculties, as well as at other national and international universities.

To further bolster their impact, the institute is launching three master’s and doctoral postgraduate programmes in January 2015.

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