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21 April 2021 | Story Financial Aid

Dear Student

Please take note that the NSFAS appeals process is now open.

FIRST TIME AND NEW APPLICANTS

First time1 and new applicants2 for NSFAS funding for 2021 whose applications were rejected by NSFAS must submit their appeal electronically on the MyNSFAS portal. Financial Aid offices may not accept manual forms for this group of students and may not submit manual appeals for this group to NSFAS. You will be able to track your status on the MyNSFAS portal.

SENIOR RETURNING/CONTINUING STUDENTS

Please see appeal form attached.

The following process is ONLY applicable to NSFAS returning/continuing students and exclude first time
and new applicants for NSFAS funding in 2021.

The following documents must be submitted from your “ufs4life” email address for your appeal to be
considered:
  • 1. Completed and signed appeal form attached herewith.
  • 2. Ensure that the relevant box indicating the reason for your appeal is checked.
  • 3. Signed motivation
  • 4. Supporting documents (e.g. Medical certificates, death certificate etc.) Your appeal can
  • unfortunately not be considered in the absence of documentation in support of your reason and
  • motivation for the appeal.
Please note that NSFAS confirmed that you cannot appeal if you exceeded the N+ period. You can only
submit an appeal for one of the reasons provided on the appeal form.

Please submit the abovementioned required documents as one single combined attachment in legible 
PDF format to your campus specific e-mail address below:
Bloemfontein Campus – NSFASAppealsBfn@ufs.ac.za
Qwaqwa Campus – NSFASAppealsQQ@ufs.ac.za
The closing date for submission of appeals is 30 April 2021 at 16:00 and no appeals will be accepted after
this date.

Issued by

Financial Aid

 

News Archive

Penny Siopis recipient of the prestigious Helgaard Steyn Award
2015-12-15

Vanya Terblance (ABSA Trust representative) hands over the award to Penny Siopis
Photo: Valentino Ndaba

On Friday 4 December 2015, Penny Siopis, the well-known Cape Town-based artist, who has been exhibiting her work locally and internationally since 1975, was presented with the 2015 Helgaard Steyn Award and a prize of R 550 000 for her painting entitled Swarm.

A quadrennial award lunch was hosted by the University of the Free State (UFS) Johannes Stegman Gallery in conjunction with the Helgaard Steyn and ABSA Trusts. The Helgaard Steyn Trust was established by the estate of Dr Jan Steyn and was named after his father and his brother who was the last president of the Orange Free State Republic.

Swarm, a 2011 painting using ink and glue on canvas, depicts a swarm of bees in a complex, dynamic, and intense manner. It earned the prestigious award that is dedicated to the promotion of artistic culture based on the adjudicators’ unanimous decision. Angela de Jesus, curator of the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery at the UFS, Annali Dempsey of the University of Johannesburg Gallery, and Prof John Botha, Associate Professor in Art History at North West University, made up the 2015 panel of judges.

On receiving the award, Siopis thanked the Steyn family, the judges, and the people who nominated her. “I am struck by how fantastic it feels to be acknowledged. It is extraordinary when people are struck by what was your own world and the intensity buzzing in your head.”

According to Prof Botha, “Naturally the work of art is chosen on grounds of artistic merit and in the context of contemporary values with regards to both form and content.”

The award-winning painter studied Fine Arts at Rhodes University and Portsmouth University in United Kingdom. Apart from lecturing Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, she is an honorary professor at University of Cape Town Michaelis School of Fine Art. She has also taught at the Natal Technicon in Durban.

Siopis has received numerous awards for her work, including a British Council Scholarship, a Merit Award at the 2nd Cape Town Triennial, and the Atelier Award for a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, in addition to the Alexander S Onassis fellowship for research in Greece.

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