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Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, visits the UFS

02 September 2020 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Charl Devenish

Deputy Minister visit — From the left are: Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Buti Manamela; Prof Prakash Naidoo, Vice-Rector: Operations at the UFS; and Dr Ramneek Ahluwalia, Chief Executive Officer of Higher Health.

“The work that the University of the Free State (UFS) is doing to ensure that students get the necessary support is quite impressive. The university is saving the academic year to save lives.” These were the words of the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Buti Manamela, during a visit to the university’s Bloemfontein Campus on 31 August 2020.

The visit was part of the Deputy Minister’s visit to higher education institutions in Bloemfontein to assess the academic state of readiness and to monitor the safety protocols for the phased re-opening of campuses during Level 2 of the national lockdown.

The delegation, which also consisted of representatives from Higher Health led by the Chief Executive Officer Dr Ramneek Ahluwalia, attended a briefing session in the Council Chambers before visiting various venues on campus. In his opening and welcoming remarks, Prof Prakash Naidoo, Vice-Rector: Operations, said that the safety, health, and well-being of staff and students remain the university’s priority. “Extensive planning has gone into making sure that the university complies with the national COVID-19 protocols and regulations and that our campuses are safe and ready for the return of students. Sufficient hygiene measures are in place, as well as adaptions to ensure physical distancing. The wearing of masks, physical distancing, and hand sanitising remain compulsory on all the campuses,” said Prof Naidoo.

“A Special Executive Group (SEG) was already established by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, at the beginning of March 2020. The SEG meets weekly to discuss and decide on the university’s response to COVID-19 as this pandemic develops over time. Consisting of eight task teams, the SEG is the decision-making entity that responds rapidly and in a coordinated manner to combat the threats to business continuity. One of the task teams is specifically looking at the wellness of our students and staff to make sure that this important aspect is taken care of,” said Prof Naidoo.

During a presentation of the university’s Multimodal Teaching and Learning Plan for the completion of the 2020 academic year, Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director: Centre for Teaching and Learning, said that the university has an evidence-based approach towards remote multimodal teaching, learning, and assessment. “For instance, our vulnerable students were identified early in the lockdown, and 16 strategies were put in place to ensure that no student is left behind. 99,95% of our students were active on Blackboard. We are developing plans for the 0,05% of students who were not able to participate in learning, so that they can continue their learning journey with the UFS,” said Prof Strydom.

In his closing remarks, Deputy Minister Manamela commended the university management on the initiatives to save the academic year. He also indicated his appreciation for the informative session and encouraged the university to keep on motivating students and staff to be attentive to their behaviour and to remain careful about their health and well-being.

The programme was concluded with a visit to a number of venues on campus, including the examination venues, the Health and Wellness Clinic, the Pathogen Research Laboratory of the Division of Virology and a student housing unit.

News Archive

Ghanaian academic speaks about next generation of African scholars

2013-10-08

Attending the seminar were from left: Adv Erika Cilliers, Sisa Mlonyeni (both from the Office of the Public Protector), Prof Adomako Ampofo and Prof Heidi Hudson, Head of the Centre for Africa Studies.
Photo: Jerry Mokoroane
08 October 2013

Prof Akosua Adomako Ampofo, one of the Centre for Africa Studies’newly-appointed advisory board members, addressed students and staff on 3 October 2013. Her topic Are you the scholar Africa needs?enthralled the audience with the passionate way in which she argued for nurturing activist-scholars rather than scholars who simply produce knowledge for the sake of it. “It is more urgent than ever before that … we do not simply see our roles as researchers and teachers, but that we are committed to impacting our communities” for the better – also by “making our knowledge production globally visible,” she argued. Africa is said to contribute less than 0.5 percent of the world’s scientific publications. The fact that most of these – and nearly all of the social science production – emanate from just three nations (Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) means that many countries are absent from the radar.

According to her, the next generation of African scholars will have to compete within a hostile terrain where private universities are proliferating and costs of higher education are on the rise. These scholars will have to possess 22nd century skills, but a 20th century heart and sensitivity for the continent and its people.

Drawing on Kwame Nkrumah, Prof Ampofo proposed three guiding principles for becoming the scholars Africa needs. Firstly, by having a passion for knowledge as well as an Africa-centred knowledge – “nobody can tell our stories better than we can.”. Secondly, to translate our research into outputs not only in the form of internationally-recognised publications, but also in popular sources that will be read by a much wider public. And lastly, to carrying the torch for teaching and learning in the classroom – preparing our students to serve Africa or, as Nkrumah said, producing “devoted men and women with imagination and ideas, who, by their life and actions, can inspire our people to look forward to a great future.”.

Akosua Adomako Ampofo is a Professor of African and Gender Studies, and Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. An activist-scholar, her current work addresses African knowledge systems; race, ethnicity and identity politics; gender-based expressions of violence; constructions of masculinities; women and work; and popular culture. She is currently co-editing a volume titled, Transatlantic Feminisms: Women and Gender in Africa and the African Diaspora.In 2010, she was awarded the Sociologists for Women in Society Feminist Activism Award.

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