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#YouthMonth2021: CUADS – Humanising student experiences

17 June 2021 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Supplied

CUADS read more — CUADS: Recognised for its efforts in human reconciliation within higher education spaces by creating and providing opportunities for students with disabilities to thrive academically.

In commemoration of Youth Month 2021, the South African government zooms in to uncover opportunities available to the South African youth, drawing more young people into the economy, and initiating various youth development and empowerment initiatives to support young people.

In line with this, the University of the Free State (UFS) Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS) has established and implemented a number of technological and academic support measures to humanise the experiences of students with disabilities at the UFS, encouraging universal access and academic success for all students. The ultimate aim is to have young people with disabilities employed in order to participate in the economy of South Africa.

CUADS continues the mission established when the department first opened: to become a higher-education institution support service recognised for its efforts in human reconciliation by creating and providing opportunities for students with disabilities to ultimately achieve academically, and to have an institutional culture of embracing and welcoming persons with disabilities on all three campuses of the UFS.

According to Martie Miranda, Assistant Director of CUADS and chair of the Higher and Further Education Disability Services Association, CUADS is monumental in its ability to accommodate the specific needs of students with sensory, physical, and learning disabilities, and has inspired other South African universities to enhance the qualities of their services by adapting their strategic visions to that of CUADS, which aims to operationalise and cater for the core needs of students through the UFS Integrated Transformation Plan (ITP), founded on the Strategic Policy Framework on Disability for the post-education and training sector.

The UFS ITP assists in addressing physical barriers (accessibility to and within buildings, e.g., ramps, doorways, services, and information), attitudinal barriers (communication access, awareness and advocacy, integrated programmes to mix and learn between peers), and structural barriers (policies, flexible service delivery, and employment practices).

CUADS, in line with the UFS Division of Student Affairs (DSA), prioritises student success and plans to maintain continuous engagement with students (on an individual basis, but also per disability category) to continue the support needed to ensure student success.

News Archive

Valuable advice for businesses in difficult times

2013-04-15

Prof Helena van Zyl, Director of the Business School, and Dr Reuel Khoza.
Photo: Stephen Collett
15 April 2013

Dr Reuel Khoza, Chairman of the Nedbank Group, shared the group’s valuable rules for managing a bank in difficult times in an MBA lecture on the Bloemfontein Campus. Dr Khoza is a visiting professor at the UFS Business School.

He focused in the lecture on the group’s business and leadership model and highlighted some do’s and don’ts:

Do not surprise your stakeholders on the downside – communicate transparently, particularly when there is bad news.
Retrenching staff to contain costs should be a last resort – the damage to corporate culture from retrenchments is immense. Follow and support your customers – get as close to them as possible because business changes slowly, but customer behaviour can change in an instant.
Integrated central capital and funding management.
Entrench well-established reporting, KPIs and measurement systems.
Ensure strong independent risk management.
Manage your cost base – anticipate downturns and re-base your costs to avoid crisis-cost management.
Take advantage of opportunities – an economic downturn creates a situation where valuations fall and assets are sold off, which can be a great opportunity for acquisitions.
Keep innovating – innovation does not have to be a costly exercise, as the right culture can promote and encourage experimentation and collaboration.
Whatever you do – avoid a price war, as expedient pricing decisions may hurt the business in the longer term.

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