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Motion of Confidence in UFS Leadership

29 March 2021 | Story Lacea Loader

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) confirmed the following at its meeting on 19 March 2021:

1. Its support of and confidence in the leadership of the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof Francis Petersen and his team, and duly recognises the efforts and results achieved at the University during the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the current nationwide student protest on the payment of student debt.

2. In this context, the Council also distances itself and deplores the statements made by the leadership of the Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC), on national television on Monday 15 March 2021, as it pertained to the demand for the immediate resignation of the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, and the statements pertaining to the Chancellor, Prof Bonang Mohale, and Chairperson of the Council, Dr Willem Louw. The Council notes that Mr Katleho Lechoo, President of the ISRC subsequently retracted the utterances.

3. The Council strongly affirms its confidence in the relationship between the leadership of the UFS and the ISRC and expresses its appreciation for the University leadership’s commitment to continuously engage with students about matters of concern to them. The Council furthermore encourages positive and constructive engagement by the ISRC with the University leadership, as this contributes to shared-understanding of the challenges faced by the South African higher education sector and the governance of the UFS.

News Archive

Grants for three NRF chairs

2012-02-16

Research at our university got a significant boost this week with the awarding of three research chairs by the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChl) of the National Research Foundation.

The chairs were awarded in the fields of solid-state luminescent and advanced materials, higher education in human development and disease resistance in field crops. The grants for the chairs amount to R7.5 million per year for the next ten years.

Prof. Frans Swanepoel, Director: Research Development , says receiving these chairs in a highly competitive environment is a significant achievement. Our university received the same number of chairs as the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of the Witwatersrand.

The SARChl received 406 applications from 22 universities for 2011/2012. Following 25 panel meetings, 60 applicants were successful and were awarded chairs.

The UFS chairs will probably be in operation by September of this year.

Prof. Swanepoel says the SARChl’s future calls for applications will create the opportunity to increase the number of chairs at our university.

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