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03 September 2020
Class of 2020
Dear Graduand

VIRTUAL GRADUATION CEREMONIES, 6-9 OCTOBER 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense disruption in many aspects of our lives, both in South Africa and abroad. Higher education institutions throughout the world were not exempt from the effects of the deadly virus. In South Africa in particular, most institutions were forced to suspend academic programmes and quickly found themselves transitioning academic programmes from the classroom to online learning platforms. 

We also postponed graduation ceremonies in the hope that the situation would improve in time. Unfortunately, the situation has not improved, and as COVID-19 continues to present uncertainties and public health concerns, we have made the decision not to present our face-to-face graduation ceremonies on the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses.  

On the other hand, the pandemic has propelled innovation and creativity; we are delighted at the possibilities offered by technology to allow us to honour and preserve traditions that define the higher education experience. Your graduation and the conferring of your degree should be an unforgettable moment in your life. Therefore, we are making every effort to ensure that even during these unusual times, you are celebrated.  You have committed countless hours of dedicated work to earn your degree, and we would like to support you in celebrating this momentous occasion. 
Therefore, as an alternative, we are hosting virtual graduation ceremonies scheduled to be broadcasted from 6 to 9 October 2020 at 10:00 daily: 

• 6 October 2020: Bloemfontein Campus (April 2020, all ceremonies)
• 7 October 2020: Qwaqwa Campus (May 2020, all ceremonies)
• 8 October 2020: Bloemfontein Campus (June 2020 undergraduate and honours ceremonies)
• 9 October 2020: Bloemfontein Campus (June 2020 master’s and PhD qualifications)

The institution is aware of and sensitive to the increased need to have your qualification certificates.  We therefore wish to inform our graduates that certificates will be available and released immediately after the conferral ceremonies. It is our utmost priority to ensure your health and safety. As a result, certificates will be available and released via courier services at no cost to you and within convenient measures in adherence to the COVID-19 prescriptions. Communication regarding the issuing of the certificates will follow in due course.
 
Your disappointment at not having a face-to-face ceremony is understandable – however, it is extremely important that we do what is in the best interest of our students, staff, and community. 

Congratulations to all our graduates and may you have continued success in all your endeavours! 

We look forward to honouring you at the virtual graduation ceremony. 


News Archive

Three more Kovsie staff members involved in Olympic Games
2012-05-30

 

Dr Derik Coetzee
Photo: Supplied
30 May 2012

The South African men’s hockey team will practice on our Bloemfontein Campus from 28 May to 8 June 2012, and the team count on the assistance of three Kovsies to prepare them for the Olympic Games taking place in London later this year.  

Dr Derik Coetzee, senior lecturer in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science and Head of our High Performance Centre, has been appointed conditioning coach of the team. He will be assisted by Colleen Jones and Riaan Schoeman, also from this department.

The UFS team and Mr Gregg Clark, the team’s coach, will work out a periodisation programme for the team, which will continue until the hockey finals at the Olympic Games. The programme includes the correct exercises, volume, intensity and number of exercise sessions per week.

This is not the first time that Dr Coetzee has assisted sports teams to prepare for important events. In 2007, he was the conditioning coach of the Springbok rugby team that won the World Cup in France. He was also the conditioning coach of the under-21 Springbok team in 2002 that won the Junior World Cup Tournament. 

Dr Coetzee says it is a challenge to ensure that the team performs well at the Olympic Games. “The joy on the faces of the coach and players when they qualified in Japan cannot be described because many people thought they would not qualify.”

With the addition of Dr Coetzee, Ms Jones and Mr Schoeman, a total of six staff members from the UFS will be involved with the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. The other three are:

  • Dr Louis Holtzhausen, Head of the university’s Department of Sports and Exercise Medicine, has been selected as team doctor for the more than 300 athletes that will represent South Africa at this year’s Olympic Games (in London).
  • Ms Ebeth Grobbelaar, Assistant Director of the South African Testing Laboratory for Prohibited Substances at the UFS, was invited to be involved in the Drugs Control Centre in the unit against prohibited substances which will test sportsmen and -women during the games.
  • Ms Hetsie Veitch, Head of the Unit for Students with Disabilities, has been invited to be a member of the Classification Panel at the final USA Paralympic athletics trials.

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