Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

UFS Council member makes contributions in books on leadership and responsive universities

27 August 2021 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Supplied

dr-millard-arnold copy — Dr Millard Arnold, UFS Council Member and Senior Consultant at Bowman Gilfillan.

Dr Millard Arnold, Council Member of the University of the Free State (UFS) and Senior Consultant at Bowman Gilfillan, recently contributed to a noteworthy book on leadership and a book on responsive universities. His experience as a journalist and later as a seasoned leader and keynote speaker positioned him well to participate in the book: The Book Every Upcoming, New, and Seasoned Leader Needs to Read – Lessons From Leading Business Minds and Thought Leaders.

From surviving to thriving

Incorporating collective leadership wisdom for both the leaders of tomorrow and the leaders of today, the book is full of lessons, insights, pep talks, advice, and direction for building your own style and approach to great leadership, and not to shy away from the ecstasy (and sometimes agony) of becoming a significant leader. Packed with the contributions of 48 authors, the book is the antidote to the lack of mentorship in the field. Authors include Brand Pretorius, Edwin Cameron, Marnus Broodryk, Nyimpini Mabunda, and Roze Phillips – to name a few.

Giving problems to solutions

Dr Arnold’s contribution focuses on fishing out the valuable leadership principles from the sea of leaderships that we are drowning in. “I have found myself in positions of leadership and have had to develop a number of thoughts on leadership which have helped guide me in determining how best to lead,” he writes. This guided him to discover the true essence of leadership, which is problem solving. He asserts that “if there are no difficulties to overcome, no problems to resolve, the leadership is unnecessary”. Leadership has its genesis in problems, he believes.

Effective leaders make things happen

Among the profound insights that Dr Arnold shares, he highlights the notion that great leaders must understand the problem and have the vision to see the solution. Inevitably, this necessitates the leader to take some risks and to persuade others to get on board. This is only possible if the leader has integrity and ultimately deliver on the promise made. He advises leaders to “ask good questions, listen to the answers, assess the reality, be empathic, and spend a great deal of time on self-reflection”.

Universities must remain relevant

Dr Arnold also contributed a chapter titled, Poverty, Inequity and Decolonisation: Are Business Schools Responsive to the Challenge? in a book by Chris Brink, The Responsive University and the Crisis in South Africa. The book brings together contributions on the issue of responsiveness from several international university leaders. Dr Arnold’s chapter presents an overview of the impact of colonialism and capitalism on the African mind set and stresses how different South African business schools have responded to the task of being responsive to the challenges confronting the country. It argues that, if carefully managed, business schools can, and should be, vehicles to promote and facilitate positive and constructive change.

News Archive

Getting out of the dark

2015-06-10

ESKOM is making daily announcements on the status of the power grid.

Anton Calitz, Electrical Engineer at University Estates, is in continuous contact with Eskom and Centlec in an effort to stay abreast of load shedding.

According to Anton, Eskom has recently - the week of 20 April - been focusing on the evening peak, and has announced STAGE 1 load shedding from 17:00-22:00; thus, the Bloemfontein Campus should be able to continue business as usual during the day, except for Thursdays from 18:00 and, possibly, Fridays from 17:00.

Where can I get more information about load shedding stages?

Apart from Eskom’s webpage, staff can also visit GRID WATCH. Click on "Search", then under "Schedules". Look for "Mangaung Local Municipality", and select "GROUP 4". Save this location. “This can even be loaded onto your mobile device.”

“The time slots can be seen for a couple of days in advance, to allow us to plan around the possibility of load shedding in our daily lives,” said Anton.

Please note: ESKOM can change the STAGE level at any time. Therefore, keep an eye on GRID WATCH and News24.

View the typical seven-day planner for the Bloemfontein Campus (Group 4), which indicates the STAGE 2 and 3 possibilities. Take note that, on some days, the STAGE 2 and 3 time slots are the same.

More load shedding tips: Your IT needs

The UFS Data Centre (Computer Room) is fully serviced by a generator facility, and can function without external power supply for a few days.

The generator servicing the UFS data centre does NOT provide power to the outlying facilities. This implies that all digital equipment at gates, booms, and access points will be shut down until the power is restored to these facilities. “We are now, in collaboration with Nico Janse van Rensburg, in a process to install UPS facilities at these points, which will ensure two to three hours of power supply at these points, even during load shedding,” said Dr Vic Coetzee, Senior Director: ICT Services.

No Wi-Fi will be available, as it is dependent on the power supply to the buildings where it is installed.

All servers are contained in the data centre, and will be kept running by our generators.

How to manage load shedding and your IT needs:

1. Get into the habit of saving your work regularly on computer so that you don’t lose your work/files during load shedding.
2. Back up important data. Keep to a schedule of regular back-up. Make sure your computer back-ups are safe and recoverable.
3. Keep all electronic devices charged and ready to run on battery power. Keep your cellphone charged: some old-style Telkom landlines will still operate during power outages, but others won't.
4. Remember, when power supply is restored, it sometimes happens that a power surge is sent through the network, which will damage your computer. Fortunately, laptop computers will not suffer this fate as their power is provided through an external power pack. Often, this power pack will be damaged, but not the laptop itself.
5. It makes good sense to reboot your computer daily, not only in terms of power shedding, but also in terms of updating the drivers, software, etc.
6. Switch off all computers and other electrical equipment at the wall plug overnight and on weekends.
7. Should your IT equipment not switch on after a power outage, log a call with the ICT Services. You can also call them at x2000.

More information, guidelines and contact numbers

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept