Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
04 January 2021 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Anja Aucamp
Dr Sekanse Ntsala

Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Language Education at the University of Free State, Dr Sekanse Ntsala, collaborated with colleagues from eight universities across South Africa to produce instructional reading strategies for Sesotho and isiZulu students in the Faculty of Education.

The project will see Dr Ntsala partner in the production of learning material in Sesotho and IsiZulu for Foundation and Intermediate phase lecturers, academics, and students. The project is centred in the Centre for African Language Teaching at the University of Johannesburg. 

Designing African language material is a progressive move 

He said there was a gap in the learning material currently being produced, as it was all produced in English, even for African languages. 

"The dilemma is that thus far, all the material that we use for teaching has been written in English. This means that lecturers have to rely on material written in English, and in some instances, they have to translate into the relevant African language. The challenge with translation is that the final product does not always come out the same. You find that even when lecturers have to compile study guides, they still have to rely on the same material. It's a challenge that affects even students themselves, as discussions and assessments have to be done in the African language in question."

He said rather than to translate the content that has been written in English, the collaboration will result in newly created material for Sesotho and IsiZulu.

The two languages were selected as pilot languages; Dr Ntsala said the aim of the project is to expand the creation of material to other languages in order to eliminate English as the main focus in teaching.

"The main rationale is that it's only fair that we have material that will be relevant to a particular language. The manner in which it is happening now is sort of degrading to other languages," he said.

Dr Ntsala said the material would be completed by the end of 2020 and would then go through the process of getting approval from the deaneries of the approved universities, as well as from the Department of Education.

"We are trying to ensure that every language gets recognition in classrooms. Having material that is language-specific is a step in the right direction to ensure that each language is given the respect it deserves."

News Archive

Over 300 diplomas in Financial Planning Law awarded
2012-06-28

 

Adv. Wessel Oosthuizen, Director of the Centre for Financial Planning Law; Marilize Putter, top student in the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning Law, Jenny White, top student in die Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning Law and Prof. Rita-Marie Jansen, Acting Dean: Faculty of Law at the UFS.
Photo: Stephen Collet
28 June 2012

The Centre for Financial Planning Law (CFPL) in the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) awarded 342 Postgraduate and Advanced Postgraduate Diplomas in Financial Planning at this year’s graduation ceremony. The ceremony was held at the Sandtion Conference Centre in Johannesburg on 19 June 2012.

Some of the distinguished guests who attended were Dr Khotso Mokhele, Chancellor of the UFS, Dr Derek Swemmer, Registrar of the UFS, Prof. Nicky Morgan, Vise-Rector: Operations at the UFS, Prof. Helena van Zyl, Director of the UFS’s Business School, Prof. Rita-Marie Jansen, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Law and Adv. Wessel Oosthuizen, Director of the CFPL. The Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa, Mr Godfrey Nti, and the Chairperson of the Board, Mr Solly Keetse, were also present at the graduation ceremony.

Marilize Putter was named as the top student in the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning Law, with Jenny White the top student in die Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning Law.

The UFS remains the largest institution in this field. The UFS’s Centre for Financial Planning Law is also the only institution in South Africa that presents the Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning Law as a pure specialisation diploma.

Donors who made the event possible include:

  •  Craig Bentley of Alexander Forbes
  •  Dev Chetty of Liberty Life
  •  Henry van Deventer of Acsis
  •  Tessa Pappenfuss of Lexis Nexis
  •  Bertie Nel of Momentum

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