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21 April 2021
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Story Eugene Seegers
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Photo Supplied
Adelia Chauque graduated with distinction during the April Virtual Graduations hosted by the UFS.
On 20 April 2021, 693
South Campus students graduated during a
virtual ceremony, with 213 of them achieving distinctions. One of these is
Adelia Chauque, the newly elected South Campus SRC member for Policy and Transformation. During her journey as a student, Adelia says that she had numerous obstacles to overcome. For instance, she mentions that her “biggest challenge was completing my tasks with an unstable data connection during the pandemic”. Despite this impediment, Adelia managed to excel in her studies and obtained her qualification with distinction.
Adelia says her family was her biggest support system. “Due to the network problems that I faced my family had to drive me around until we found a stable connection that enabled me to write my tests.” Other support came from the university itself. “I received a lot of support from the academic adviser, Mr Chwaro Shuping,” she says. “Although he couldn't arrange for me to return to campus, he called regularly to ensure that I was still academically active.”
After overcoming these hurdles, Adelia is continuing her academic journey. “I am enthusiastic and eager to learn or to better myself. Due to that, I am furthering my studies by enrolling for a second degree programme in
Administration majoring in Industrial Psychology. I am very ambitious, in the sense that I strive for perfection and consistency with an organised and maintainable future, therefore being part of the SRC enables me to assist students and myself with a secured and comfortable learning environment to achieve our goals at the institution.”
Adelia balances her responsibilities in the SRC portfolio of Policy and Transformation on the South Campus by having a schedule planned that ensures she does not fall behind. She concludes, “During the morning, I attend my prescribed lectures to ensure that I will continue to slay academically. Then I am visible in the SRC office from 12:00 to 16:30. After hours, I contribute my time to study, but I remain available to students who prefer texting.” The university is keen to see the heights to which Adelia will attain in the coming years.
“I am enthusiastic and eager
to learn or to better myself.”
Adelia Chauque, South Campus SRC:
Policy and Transformation.
Universities join hands in developing literacy tests
2010-03-19
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At the signing ceremony, from the left, are: Prof. Driekie Hay (Vice-Rector: Teaching and Learning), Prof. Albert Weideman (Head: Department of English) and Prof. Lucius Botes (Dean: Faculty of the Humanities).
Photo: Supplied |
The development of academic literacy tests recently took a step into the future with the formal establishment of the Inter-institutional Centre for Language Development and Assessment (ICELDA).
ICELDA, under its first executive head, Prof. Albert Weideman, Head of the Department of English at the University of the Free State (UFS), is a cooperative venture between the multilingual Universities of Pretoria, North-West, Stellenbosch and the Free State.
It is dedicated to the development of reliable state-of-the-art academic literacy tests and currently makes 32 000 tests available to partnering universities annually.
Most notably, it has produced three of the most reliable academic literacy tests in the country. These include an Academic Listening Test and the Test of Academic Literacy Levels (TALL) for undergraduate students, with reliability levels that are more than 20% above international benchmarks.
“We are even more excited about our Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS), which is already a crucial instrument in determining the literacy levels of postgraduate students at the Universities of the Free State, Pretoria and North-West,” said Prof. Weideman.
In addition, ICELDA is currently piloting studies for language tests for financial advisors, nurses, students of disaster management, as well as police studies at Unisa.
ICELDA will also collaborate with the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC) at the National University of Singapore.
“One of the undertakings I made on my visit to Singapore a year ago was that I would assist in every way I could with the building of joint expertise with CELC in language testing,” said Prof. Weideman.
“However, our focus will remain firmly on research.”
He said his goal was to employ the surpluses generated by selling tests to provide promising students with bursaries to stimulate further study and design of academic literacy and other language tests.
By drawing more researchers into the field, Weideman said, ICELDA could provide the capacity for developing reliable language tests that South Africa had always lacked.
Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
19 March 2010