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17 February 2021 | Story Andre Damons

 

The registration process for senior students at the University of the Free State (UFS) is well underway; for the first time in the history of the university, students can only register online this year. Online registration and orientation for senior undergraduate and postgraduate students started on 8 February 2021 and will conclude on 26 February 2021. For first-year students, online registration and orientation will take place from 1 to 13 March 2021.


“At the end of 2020, the UFS was one of the few universities in the country that was able to complete its academic year in December. This is indeed an achievement to be extremely proud of. 2021 will be a year like no other for our students and staff. Apart from the normal activities on our campuses at the beginning of an academic year, we are following a minimalistic approach to the return of staff and students during the first semester, as our country is still in lockdown. It is also important to keep our staff and students safe,” says Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS. 

During the first semester, the UFS will continue with an online/blended learning and teaching approach for first-year and senior undergraduate students. This means that some classes will be online, some in contact or face-to-face mode, and others a combination of contact and online. “The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a global shift towards the integration of technology into learning and teaching, which the university is embracing this year,” says Prof Petersen. 

Due to the national lockdown regulations and the capacity of the university’s infrastructure to adhere to physical distancing protocols, the UFS is limiting the number of students who will be returning to the campuses next month. Students will be contacted by their faculties if they are required to return to the campuses. 

“We look forward to welcoming back our students for the first semester. Strict safety protocols are maintained on all our campuses, including hygiene, social distancing, and the wearing of masks. It is also a privilege to welcome the new cohort of first-year students entering the university for the first time,” says Prof Petersen.

The university also offers online academic advising to help students plan their academic journey and to guide them through decision-making processes related to their study modules. Academic advising for senior and postgraduate students will take place from 1 to 26 February 2021, and for first-year students from 8 to 13 March 2021.

News Archive

Academic addresses financial planning leaders at world summit
2010-05-04

Adv. Wessel Oosthuizen, Director of the Centre for Financial Planning Law at the University of the Free State (UFS), addressing financial leaders at the World Financial Planning Summit.


Adv. Wessel Oosthuizen, Director of the Centre for Financial Planning Law at the University of the Free State (UFS), is chair to four Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) expert panels that guide the global Certified Financial Planning (CFP) certification programme. At the recent World Financial Planning Summit, held in Taipei in China, he challenged a group of global financial planning leaders to support the formation of a global financial planning body of knowledge with sustainable career-path development opportunities.

He said: “For financial planning to be recognised as a distinct professional practice and a global profession, the financial planning community must establish a universal body of knowledge that is supported by applicable in-depth research.

“We need to establish how professional bodies should collaborate with academia to integrate a more competency-based education and training environment that combines theory with practice. Fostering and promoting comprehensive research in financial planning topics is another key challenge that must be addressed in order to develop a tertiary knowledge framework for the financial planning profession.”

Adv. Oosthuizen, who is playing a big role in providing consistent and rigorous education and assessment tools for financial planning in 2010, said that a bachelor’s degree should be a compulsory minimum requirement for practising financial planners.

About the learning curve between the academic and work environments in the financial planning profession, Adv. Oosthuizen said: “Implementing a career-path model that supports a more structured approach to apprenticeships and supervised practice would complement a specialised financial planning body of knowledge and provide entrants to the profession with the necessary theoretical knowledge and practical experience to offer competent and ethical financial planning.”

The World Financial Planning Summit engaged global leaders of more than 17 financial planning standards-setting bodies, as well as regulators, financial planning educators and other invited guests in a dialogue about the steps needed to gain recognition for financial planning as a distinct, global profession.
 

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