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Are you the next 3MT South Africa winner?

15 July 2021 | Story Lunga Luthuli

The Three-Minute Thesis Competition, also known as the ‘3MT’, is an annual competition held at 200 universities around the world. It is open to PhD and master’s students, challenging participants to present their research in just 180 seconds – in a way that is understood by an audience with no background in the research area.

Click here for more information

The competition originated at the University of Queensland, Australia. The UFS Postgraduate School was the first to bring the ‘Three-Minute Thesis’ (3MT) competition to Africa, and it has now become an annual event at the UFS.

The competition aims to assist participants in the development of presentation, research, and academic communication skills, as well as to support the development of research students.

Each faculty will run the 3MT at faculty level. Winners from each faculty will compete against each other during the institutional competition on 1 October 2021 and will stand a chance to win these awesome cash prizes.

UFS INSTITUTIONAL PRIZES FOR 2021 ARE:

Position	Prizes 2021
Master’s winner	R6 000
Master’s 1^st runner-up	R4 000
Master’s 2^nd runner-up	R2 000
PhD winner	R8 000
PhD 1^st runner-up	R6 000
PhD 2^nd runner-up	R4 000

Winners of the institutional competition will go ahead to compete against other universities on 29 October 2021.

News Archive

UFS awarded R3,6-million to train court interpreters

2008-05-15

At the training session for court interpreters that took place on the Main Campus of the UFS in Bloemfontein recently are, from the left, front: Ms Zandile Mtolo, Pietermaritzburg, Ms Lindiwe Gamede, Bethlehem; back: Mr Sipho Majombozi, Port Shepstone, Prof. Lotriet, and Mr Mzi Nombewu, Upington. The four learners are working at their respective magistrates courts.
Photo: Lacea Loader

UFS awarded R3,6-million to train court interpreters

A contract to the value of R3,6-million has been awarded to the University of the Free State (UFS) to train court interpreters throughout South Africa.

The contract was awarded to the Department of Afro-asiatic Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice at the UFS by the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA).

“We are the only tertiary institution in the country that offers a national diploma in court interpreting. It provides a unique opportunity to court interpreters to be trained by a group of eight lecturers who are experts in the field,” says Prof. Annelie Lotriet, associate professor at the Department of Afro-asiatic Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice.

Prof. Lotriet is an internationally renowned interpreting expert who was also responsible for the training of interpreters for the former Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

According to Prof. Lotriet no co-ordinated training programmes for court interpreters existed and there was also no control over the training processes. The programme, initiated by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, is managed by the SASSETA. “It is the first time that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development initiates such an extensive training programme for court interpreters,” says Prof. Lotriet.

The group of 100 court interpreters on the programme are from all over the country. Of the group, ten are unemployed learners who interpret for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on an ad-hoc basis.

The programme, which stretches over two years, comprises of theoretical and service training. Contact sessions take place in Bloemfontein, Pretoria and Cape Town, four times a year for two weeks at a time. The second contact session for Bloemfontein was recently completed.

“Learners are nominated by their regional offices. The programme consists of interpreting theory, interpreting practice and basic law subjects. The training material is developed and written by the SASSETA and facilitated and presented by the UFS. The learners interpret in all the 11 languages. Some of them can speak a couple of languages each,” says Prof. Lotriet.

“Everything is going very well with the programme and we are receiving a lot of positive feedback from the learners. This first group is an experiment and it depends on their success whether the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development will expand the programme,” says Prof. Lotriet.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za
15 May 2008

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