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16 September 2020 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Supplied
UFS Division of Student Affairs plans to extend their annual research colloquium to involve other universities, establishing the university as a pioneering institution of higher education and learning.
The annual University of the Free State (UFS) Division of Student Affairs Research (DSA) Colloquium aims to promote a culture of research embedded in data-driven and evidence- based practices in the field of Student Affairs. The purpose of the annual colloquium is to create a safe, enjoyable space for staff members to share their experiences, knowledge, research and practices.

The 2020 Student Affairs Research Colloquium was the first virtual Research Colloquium held by the university. As noted by DSA Researcher Ruben Langenhoven, this year’s theme Virtually Human: Connecting Meaningfully in a Digital World was inspired by the challenging times we live in, and thus commemorated the resilience and adaptability UFS Student Affairs practitioners, academic staff and students. 

As most of the projects and programmes in the DSA were negatively impacted, the Colloquium was threatened by a lack of “hard data” emanating from the 2020 academic year. The division consequently decided to reframe the colloquium by profiling distinct human voices that focused on qualitative experiences. As such, this Colloquium comprised of numerous sections where the emphasis was placed on shared experiences and shared understanding where UFS staff members and students discussed the challenges they faced in the last six months.

DSA staff engaged one another with staff and student-centered lived experiences, and professional staff development sessions that visited the impact of technology on their psychological well-being and how to improve their relationship with technology in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also forming part of the programme that will inform the future of the division going forward, reflected DSA success-story presentations of the past year. 

The colloquium proved as beneficial for the DSA and the entire institution in its pursuit of a research-based working approach within the Student Affairs discipline. 

News Archive

International human development practitioners gather at first HDCA conference in Africa
2017-09-18

Description: HDCA read more Tags: Human Development and Capability Association, University of Cape Town, HDCA conference, Prof Melanie Walker 

The first HDCA annual conference on African soil was held at
UCT from 6 to 8 September 2017.


The Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) is a global community of academics and practitioners that seeks to build an intellectual community around the ideas of human development and the capability approach, and to relate these ideas to the policy arena and justice in the world. The association promotes research within many disciplines, ranging from economics to philosophy, development studies, health, education, law, government, sociology, and more. Members live in over 70 countries worldwide.

The HDCA’s conference is held annually; in 2017, the 17th international conference was held in Africa for the first time. Hosted by the Universities of Cape Town, the Free State (UFS), and the Western Cape, and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the meeting was held in Cape Town from 6 to 8 September 2017. The conference attracted outstanding global scholars, such as Profs Ravi Kanbur (Cornell), Martha Nussbaum (Chicago), Ingrid Robeyns (Utrecht), and Jayati Ghosh (Jawaharlal Nehru University), among many others.

The conference theme was Challenging Inequalities: Human Development and Social Change, a particularly apt topic in the wake of Stats SA’s latest Poverty Report, which shows growing poverty and inequality in South Africa. Prof Melanie Walker, Director: Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development (CRHED) at the UFS, outgoing vice-president of the HDCA, and a member of the conference committee, led a group of researchers from CRHED, ten of whom were involved in presenting papers, while two former PhD students also presented their research. Overall, the quality of papers was very high, with Prof Nussbaum remarking that this was ‘the best HDCA conference’ she had attended.

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