Latest News Archive

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

UFS amends the retirement age for all staff members to 65

10 December 2021 | Story Lacea Loader

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the retirement age of all staff members to 65 this week.

“The current retirement age for staff members of the UFS is 65 years for those appointed prior to 1 June 1998, and 60 years for those appointed after 1 June 1998. The Council’s decision to amend the retirement age to 65 comes after an extensive benchmarking process involving the university’s two labour unions, NEHAWU and UVPERSU, which requested that the retirement age of all staff members be adjusted to 65,” said Prof Francis Petesen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

This amendment brings the university in line with other universities and will assist in overcoming a negative impact on the recruitment and attraction of high-calibre academic and specialist staff.

Parallel to the amendment of the retirement age in the Conditions of Services, the university is also adapting the allocation of vacation leave. “We are currently facing a challenge in terms of the provision of the staff leave liability, which has a major financial implication for the UFS. In consultation with stakeholder unions the accumulation of vacation leave has been adjusted to a maximum of five days per year,” said Prof Petersen.

The new retirement age to 65 and the adjusted accumulated vacation leave days will be affected from 1 January 2022. Staff who are set to retire on 31 December 2021 may opt to continue to the age 65. This amendment will not apply to staff that may have already retired.

Adjusted vacation as from 1 January 2022:

Academic staff:

Current number of vacation days: 42

Approved Leave Days

Number of vacation days: 30

Additional research leave days: 12 (non-cumulative and expires at the end of each calendar year)

Support staff:

Deputy Director and higher levels

Peromnes Level: 1 – 6

Current number of leave vacation days: 36

Approved number of vacation days: 30

Assistant Director to Officer

Peromnes Level: 7 – 14

Current number of leave vacation days: 30 - 28

Approved number of vacation days: 28

Service Workers

Peromnes Level: 15 - 18

Current number of leave vacation days: 24

Approved number of vacation days: 24

News Archive

International scholar talks about the right to food in South Africa

2012-06-06

Prof. Frans Swanepoel, Senior Director Research Development; Prof. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr; and Prof. Melanie Walker.
Photo: Supplied
06 June 2012

Prof. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr of the New School University, New York, in the United States of America, recently presented a seminar on the Bloemfontein Campus. The seminar was hosted by Prof. Melanie Walker, Senior Professor and SARChI-nominated candidate for Higher Education and Human Development.

Prof. Fukuda-Parr, currently Head of the Graduate Programme in International Affairs at the New School University, spoke about the Right to Food in SA. She explored the relationship between two approaches – human rights and capabilities (or human development). This was done to enhance the understanding of both as theoretical paradigms, as public policy frameworks and as approaches to development.

Prof. Fukuda-Parr is a Japanese national, a graduate from Cambridge University in the UK and a former professor at Harvard University in the USA. From 1995 to 2004, she was main author and Director of the UNDP Human Development Reports.

In addition to these reports, some of her publications include: The Gene Revolution: GM Crops and Unequal Development; Readings in Human Development; Rethinking Technical Cooperation - Reforms for capacity building in Africa; Capacity for Development - Old Problems, New Solutions and numerous papers and book chapters on issues of poverty, violent conflict, gender, human rights and technology. She was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to the Committee on Development Policy.

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