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17 March 2021 | Story Karen Venter
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.


View infographic here

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 Music rises to academic prominence
2007-10-18

 

From the left are: Ronella Jansen van Rensburg, Hanna van Schalkwyk, Elene Coetzer en Lizabé Lambrechts

Four postgraduate students gave prominence to the Music Department of the University of the Free State by having four academic articles published by accredited journals, and a fifth published in an international online journal.

It is the first time that a tertiary music institution in South Africa has had so many postgraduate studies published in one year, says Prof Martina Viljoen.

The students who worked under Prof Viljoen's supervision are Hanna van Schalkwyk, senior lecturer in singing at UFS; Ronella Jansen van Rensburg, part-time music lecturer and founder of the Sentraal-Kultuurakademie (Central Culture Academy); Elene Coetzer, also a part-time lecturer and involved in the Mangaung String Project; and Lizabé Lambrechts, who is still studying full-time.

Hanna and Ronella attained their master's degrees and Lizabé honours.

Hanna's research on the unique and at times unorthodox philosophy in singing and method of the pedagogue in singing Sarie Lamprecht (1923-2005) is published in the Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe (Journal for the Humanities).

The study documents interviews held with Lamprecht over more than two years as well as conversations with her most prominent students.

Ronella's study on the relationship between emotional intelligence and musical performance anxiety is divided into two successive articles in the journal Musicus.

Dr Adelene Grobler, Epog director at UFS, was Ronella's co-supervisor.

Elene conducted a qualitative investigation into the Mangaung String Programme in which the social value of this teaching programme is emphasised.

She documented the responses of learners, parents and teachers who are involved in the project. Her article is published in the Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa.

Lizebé reached out to pop culture for her research and wrote about no less a person than the controversial shock-rock-icon Marilyn Manson.

Her study serves as a model analysis for educational work that focuses on popular culture as a didactic instrument.

In this respect Manson's music, which is frequently slated as vulgar or disturbing, is shown as aggressive social comment.

Lizabé's article, which throws light on Manson's bisexual identity, was published as a full-length monograph in the first edition of the overseas online noncejournal.

In 2005 the Department of Music also excelled when it was the first academic music institution in South Africa that published international congress proceedings as a subsidised collection.

The collection contained eminent international authors and was published under the guest editorship of Viljoen.

Die Volksblad – 1.10.07

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