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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

National accolade for Dr Philemon Akach
2013-10-21

 

Dr Philemon Akach
Photo: Sonia Small
21 October 2013


Excellence in Teaching and Learning is highly regarded at the University of the Free State, with our academics recognised on national and international platform.

Earning yet another accolade for the university, Dr Philemon Akach, Head of the Department of South African Sign Language, has been awarded a National Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award. The award by the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) and Council on Higher Education (CHE), recognised Dr Akach as a “leader in the field of teaching and learning – with impact beyond the classroom and the institution.” Recognising his pioneering work within deaf education, HELTASA and CHE commend Dr Akach as an “inspirational practitioner who recognises the inclusion of the marginalised in education.”

Dr Akach is one of five recipients, selected out of a total of 22 candidates from across South Africa that will receive the award. The other winners are from the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Pretoria. The five winners will receive the awards at a gala dinner at the annual HELTASA conference, which takes place from 26 to 29 November 2013.

Dr Akach, who will retire at the end of 2014, says the national recognition is the cherry on top as he prepares to return to his home country. Kenya. “How good can it be?” “This is my life calling,” he said about the 37 years he worked within deaf education.

The academic also received an Alumni Award for Outstanding Service at the recent Kovsie Alumni Awards.

Pioneering work by Dr Akach:

  • With Dr Akach steering the process, the UFS became the first university on the continent to offer Sign Language as an academic course in 1999.
  • Dr Akach was part of a nine-member task team that handed over the South African Sign Language (SASL) curriculum to the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga. A member of the ministerial task team since 2009, he helped to coordinate the development of the curriculum that will soon be offered as a school subject to Grade 0–12 learners in all 42 schools for the deaf in South Africa.

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