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19 January 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Unsplash
The second annual International Scholarship and Mobility Fair offered both UFS staff and students the opportunity to ask questions and get answers right away, with links to detailed information.

The Office for International Affairs hosted its annual International Scholarship and Mobility Fair on 3 and 4 November 2020. This is the second annual mobility fair and the first time that it was hosted in virtual format on Blackboard Collaborative. The event showcased study-abroad opportunities for all registered students and staff. 

Staff too can enrol for studies abroad

In the mobility and exchange programme session, the UFS international partner universities presented study, teaching, and training opportunities available to students and staff on their campuses. Staff have also learnt that they can enrol for exchange programmes at any of more than 60 international universities to teach, conduct research, or collaborate to enhance their professional development.

Another session promoted scholarship opportunities for postgraduate students who would like to study abroad full- or part-time. The last session promoted research-related study opportunities such as PhD, fellowships, and academically associated opportunities. Postgraduate students have learnt about joint degrees at master’s and doctoral level, which allows them to register at the UFS and another university abroad.

Student support through scholarships 

The sessions aimed to attract and also support talented students with a scholarship – despite the current pandemic.


Participants liked that it was easily accessible and that they could ask questions and get answers right away, with links to detailed information. 

To view these sessions, please visit the UFS international webpage on the following link:

News Archive

UFS Rector takes three months sabbatical leave
2008-05-05

The Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof. Frederick Fourie, has announced that he will be taking three months sabbatical leave as from Thursday, 8 May 2008.

Prof. Fourie recently made the request for sabbatical leave to the Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke. The request was approved given the fact that Prof. Fourie has occupied a number of demanding top-management posts for almost nine years, during which time he had to manage a number of major changes at the UFS.

According to Prof. Fourie, he originally wanted to go on sabbatical leave in the second half of 2007 before the start of his second term as rector, but it was not possible at that stage.

He was last on sabbatical in 1996 before he became Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences in 1997 and Vice-Rector: Academic Operations in 1999.

He could not take his next five-yearly leave because in the post of vice-rector he was tasked with leading the financial-turnaround strategy for the UFS from the year 2000 and had to act as rector when the previous rector, Prof. Stef Coetzee, was on sick leave. Since being inaugurated as rector in 2003, there was also no opportunity to take leave as a result of the many key projects and urgent initiatives.

The Vice-Rector: Academic Operations and vice-chairperson of the Senate, Prof. Teuns Verschoor, will be the acting rector. Management processes and decision-making will continue as normal under the leadership of the acting rector together with the Executive Committee of the Executive Management (Exco) and the Executive Management. This applies to the decision about the future of the Reitz Residence as well as the continuing implementation of the policy on diversity in student residences.

According to Judge Hancke it was important that Prof. Fourie took sabbatical leave in the light of the long period he has been at the forefront of very demanding changes. There are many challenges that still lie ahead.

During his leave Prof. Fourie will be involved with the Higher Education South Africa (HESA) investigation into diversity and racism on campuses, with research and a national conference on institutional culture, as well as the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) benchmarking project and its conference in Australia at the end of August 2008.

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