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21 August 2021 | Story Michelle Nöthling

What does the best university community look like? And what would a better South Africa look like?

In the last couple of weeks, our conversations have been dominated by topics of violence that have spilled into our communities. We have shared our fears with each other and talked about the complexities that gave rise to this rage within our society. We also witnessed communities pulling together in the midst of the destruction, reminding us of our common humanity. 

If you had the opportunity to help build the best university you could imagine, would you step into that space? If you could help create a prospering South African society, would you act?

This is what the Division of Student Affairs is calling you to do. Join us as we embark on a journey of reimagining and ultimately co-creating the community we want. It starts with a conversation. A conversation where your voice is important and welcomed, and where we regard your presence as essential to realise our shared dreams.

We call you as a member of the UFS community—students and staff alike—to join our circle of conversation. We will make use of deeply engaging methods and break-out rooms to create a safe and brave space that encourages mutual sharing and deep listening. 

Add your vision and voice to the conversation to collectively imagine and build the best version of our university.

UFS Community Conversation
Date: Wednesday, 1 September
Time: 16:00 – 18:00
Platform: Zoom (in order to best support universal access and methodology)

Registration is required:

For reasonable accommodation requirements (e.g., closed captioning, or sign language interpreters), contact Michelle Nöthling at nothlingm@ufs.ac.za.

We also have information session leading up to our main conversation. During these sessions, we welcome your questions and together start to explore the concept of community in a collaborative environment.  

Information sessions
Monday, 23 August 2021, 15:00 – 16:00
Tuesday, 24 August 2021, 15:00 – 16:00
Wednesday, 25 August 2021, 15:00 – 16:00
Thursday, 26 August 2021, 15:00 – 16:00
Monday, 30 August 2021, 15:00 – 16:00
Tuesday, 31 August 2021, 15:00 – 16:00

Click here to access any of the information sessions. No registration is required for these sessions.

News Archive

It is not every day you get to build a heart
2014-09-17

According to the World Health Organisation, heart disease is the leading cause of death world wide. Heart transplantations substantially outperform any other available treatment and extend life by an average of 15 years, but the shortage of donor organs and organ rejection still remain a challenge.

Getting closer to the day where it will be possible to produce human organs by using human cells, researchers at the University of the Free State (UFS) announced that they have successfully decellularized a primate heart.

Decellularization is the process of taking an organ and stripping its cells, leaving behind a framework of binding tissue. The organ can then be repopulated (recellularized) with the patient's own cells - a process considered to move heart research closer to the day when a patient can become his own donor.

This process was discovered in 2008 by American cardiologist, Dr Doris Taylor of the University of Minnesota, who decellularized and recellularized a beating rat heart in a laboratory.

World wide researchers already used the process of decellularization on rat and pig hearts, but the research team of the UFS is the first to use this on a primate heart.

Complete media release.

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