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UFS community engagement contributes to nation building

17 March 2021 | Story Karen Venter

UFS CE infographic 3 copy — As illustrated in the infographic, the input from engaged activities delivered by the UFS resulted in 285 engaged-activity outputs, of which the majority constituted engaged citizenship, followed by engaged research, and then engaged learning and teaching.

At the University of the Free State (UFS), engaged scholarship activities are guided by the vision of being a research-led, student-centred, and regionally relevant university, focused on development and social justice.

For enactment of this vision, the UFS invests physical resources and funding, as well as staff and student hours to contribute to nation building.

Demonstrating the heart of strategic partnerships

Engaged scholarship demonstrates the heart of strategic partnerships, where agreements are grounded in shared goals, designed and agreed upon in unity for socio-economic renewal to improve people’s living conditions, contributing to societal well-being. It links the best of the research and teaching skills of staff and students to specific needs of the community, including civil society, the private sector, government, non-governmental organisations, and enterprises.

Democratic knowledge co-creation emerges from engaged learning and teaching, engaged research, and engaged citizenship through interaction between the institution, its staff and students, and the community.

The curriculum, engaged research efforts, engaged learning and teaching, and graduate attributes are all enriched through collaborative and reciprocal learning activities. As illustrated in the infographic, the input from engaged activities delivered by the UFS resulted in 285 engaged-activity outputs, of which the majority constituted engaged citizenship, followed by engaged research, and then engaged learning and teaching.

Deep understanding of socio-economic and environmental challenges

Our students participate in community-engaged service-learning, leading to knowledge acquisition and a deep understanding of socio-economic and environmental challenges in mutual solidarity with the community. Service-learning also gives rise to the acceptance and understanding of diverse cultures and races and advances the ability to interact meaningfully with diverse people from different backgrounds.

Community-engaged learning increases awareness of own biases and stereotypes along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. By transcending their own comfort zones, combined with collaborative learning with diverse groups, students can gain greater appreciation of the strengths and capacities of diverse groups in the community.

The UFS invests physical resources and funding, as well as staff and student hours to contribute to nation building. – Karen Venter

Engaged scholarship also embraces the inculcation of citizenship and the social responsibility of the UFS to society by giving effect to one of the key ‘public good’ dimensions of the UFS.

News Archive

UFS takes lead in improving quality of training in economics in schools

2006-06-20

The fourth international workshop for trainers in the National Council on Economic Education’s (NCEE) outreach programme for Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East will be presented in Bloemfontein from 18-24 June 2006.

“Because of the rapid success we achieved in the Free State with similar workshops in Economics education that were presented by the NCEE the past year, we have now invited representatives from education departments and universities of five other provinces to attend the international workshop for trainers,” said Prof Klopper Oosthuizen, lecturer at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Agricultural Economics and initiator of the cooperative agreement with the NCEE.

The UFS and the Free State Department of Education are the NCEE’s first partners in Africa who received this training. “The attendance of the five provinces and universities is the first step in the extension of the programme to the rest of the country,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

The NCEE is based in the United States of America (USA) and the workshop forms part of the council’s effort to improve the quality of the training of Economics teachers and lecturers across the world.

“South Africa is urgently in need of efforts to improve the integration of black people into the market economy. An understanding of how markets work is one of the pillars of democracy. Equipping young people with economic understanding and skills will help empower them for responsible roles as individuals and citizens,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

According to Prof Oosthuizen representatives from the education departments of the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West will also be attending the international workshop for trainers. Representatives from the Universities of Rhodes, of KwaZulu-Natal, North West and the Durban University of Technology as well as the Cape Peninsula University of Technology will also attend the workshop.

During this workshop teachers and lecturers in Economics will receive certificates.

Various subjects will be covered during the workshop such as world trade patterns, cost and benefits of free trade, exchange rates and international finance. The training will be done by representatives from the NCEE by using methods such as direct instruction and role play.

The NCEE is also in the process of training teachers and learning facilitators in the Free State in an effort to improve the quality of Economics classes in secondary schools.

“A group of 84 teachers and learning facilitators were trained in December 2005, 50 were trained in January 2006 and the last group of 40 will be trained at the UFS Main Campus in Bloemfontein from 26 June - 1 July 2006,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

During this seminar the teachers will be trained in issues such as broad social goals in an economy, economic decision making, government’s role in a market economy and fiscal policy. The training will also be done by representatives from the NCEE.

The NCEE has been working together with international partners since 1992 to strengthen their Economics teaching systems. They have already succeeded in increasing literacy in Economics at schools in the USA and more than 20 East Block countries. More than 1,5 million learners in the East Block countries have already been served by this initiative. Since 2004 the NCEE’s focus has moved away from the East Block countries to Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

“Our future plans include strengthening the growing partnership between the UFS, the Free State Department of Education and the NCEE. We also want to establish a council and centres for economic education which will serve as an umbrella for our joint efforts,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
20 June 2006

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