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Student-turned-lecturer among the many new master’s graduates

24 February 2021 | Story NONSINDISO QWABE | Photo Supplied

LEBOm_web read more — Business Management Lecturer, Lebohang Masoabi, who received her MA in Business Management at the February virtual graduation ceremony.

Student-turned-lecturer at the University of Free State (UFS), Lebohang Masoabi, has experienced the best of both worlds. Masoabi, a Business Management Lecturer on the Qwaqwa Campus, received her MA degree with specialisation in Business Management during the ceremony for master’s and doctoral degrees on 24 February 2021.

She obtained both her BA Corporate Marketing and Communication and BAHons in Business Management degrees from the UFS.

I found my passion and remembered why I started

Masoabi knows a little about delays not being denials, because what was initially supposed to be a two-year qualification took her five years to complete. “It’s been a long journey, and I really have been through a lot to get to this point. Along the way, I lost hope and was ready to give up, but I remembered why I started. Being an academic has always been a dream of mine, and I want to be the best at that, so I remembered that this was my dream, something that I love.”

“Passing on the knowledge that I have learned from this very university is incredible. I think we are one of the most awesome institutions, and I say this with confidence – having been a student myself, and now as an employee of this institution. At one point I was on the receiving end and knowledge was transferred to me, and now I am on the other side transferring that very same knowledge. Now that I am here, I want more. I see myself becoming Professor Lebohang Masoabi one day,” she said.

Entrepreneurship education necessary for students

Masoabi’s study focused on the role of entrepreneurship education on the attitudes and intentions of university students. She said when she came up with the topic of the study, one of her concerns was that many students studying entrepreneurship did not know what to do with their degrees beyond university, while students in other streams who went on to start businesses after getting their qualifications, lacked the skill and know-how. Her study found that entrepreneurship education had a positive influence on the intentions of students who had entrepreneurship background.

“Entrepreneurship teaches you to cultivate unique skills and to think out of the box. It creates opportunities, which is necessary in a country like ours. If students are given the skills and background of entrepreneurship – with the right opportunities and confidence they get from us as lecturers – they are able to influence their surroundings,” she said.

Master’s degree a message of hope

Masoabi is currently pursuing her PhD in social entrepreneurship, and said her focus was on becoming an expert in the field. “Part of why I started this journey was because of the hope that was given to me as a student at the UFS, the hope that I can be whatever I want to be. This master’s degree is my message of hope to someone looking at my life.”

News Archive

UFS academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages

2006-05-22

During the colloquium presented in Belgium by the Province Antwerp were from the left Prof Pol Cuvelier (University of Antwerp), Prof Theo du Plessis (Director: Unit for Language Management at the UFS), Mr Ludo Helsen (Permanent Deputy: Province of Antwerp) and Mr Jean-Pierre Rondas (Flemish radio journalist).

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UFS academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages at international conference

Prof Theo du Plessis, Director of the Unit for Language Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), was the main speaker at a colloquium titled “Routes: Where to now? - Een traject van het Nederlands naar het Afrikaans en de Afrikatalen”, which was recently presented by the Province Antwerp in Belgium.

The aim of the colloquium was to discuss the future cooperation in the field of language between the Province Antwerp and South Africa.

The Province Antwerp is already involved with projects in South Africa. One of these projects is the Multilingual Information Development Programme (MIDP), a partnership project between the UFS and the Free State Province that is mainly funded by the Province Antwerp.

The project has been running since 1999 and was recently in the news with the presentation of a symposium on multilingualism and exclusion on the Main Campus of the UFS. It is hoped that the Routes colloquium will indicate new stages on which can be added to the already successful cooperation in the area of language.

Prof Du Plessis’s presentation titled “Nederlands, Afrikaans en die Afrikatale – kan samewerking slaag? Die geval MIDP in die Vrystaat”, investigated the successes that have been made with the MIDP. He discussed two possible approaches to cooperation in the areas of language, that of a sentimentalistic approach against an instrumentalistic approach.

Cooperation in the first approach makes language the aim. In the second approach language is used as a means to a greater aim. According to Prof du Plessis the first approach is driven by a romantisised idea about the relation between the Flemish and Afrikaans speaking people, which may unfortunately polarise the position of Afrikaans in South Africa even further.

He argues that, given the time that we are in, the second approach will deliver more constructive results as language can among others be used for to further democracy in South Africa. This can happen by cooperation in the institutionalising of multilingualism in our society. The more languages are used in education, law and government administration, the more we can be assured a successful democracy.

The Routes colloquium was facilitated by the well-known Flemish radio journalist, Jean-Pierre Rondas. About twenty South African and Flemish language specialists took part in the colloquium. Dr Fritz Kok, outgoing chief executive officer of the ATKV took part in the opening ceremony and Dr Neville Alexander from the University of Cape Town and well-known activist for multilingualism in South Africa was also one of the main speakers.

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