Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

2021 Kovsie ACT Eco-Vehicle race: Join the virtual fun!

07 May 2021 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Johan Roux

echo vehcile — The Kovsie ACT programme encourages the evolution of UFS students to form internationally competitive graduates who embody sustainable energy knowledge and skills to contribute to the development of the global environment.

Be a part of the evolution and livestream this year’s University of the Free State (UFS) Kovsie ACT Eco-vehicle race on 15 May 2021.

What’s in it for you? Get exposed to an informative but exciting event that will assess the technology and logic behind sustainable energy sources and how this will influence the future global society.

According to Karen Scheepers, Head of the University of the Free State (UFS) Kovsie Act office, the quest for sustainable resources remains one of the top-five challenges facing the global population of today. This challenge – together with issues pertaining to food insecurity, water, waste and toxins, and the widening gap between rich and poor – poses new questions to the kind of graduates that universities produce, she added. She further highlighted the importance of innovative critical thinking that responds to day-to-day issues experienced by society in a global context.

Therefore, the UFS has initiated an eco-vehicle project to help students develop the necessary graduate attributes to specifically address issues of sustainable resources. The aim of the eco-vehicle project is to implement, within the context of a higher education institution, a new innovative skills development solution to the challenge of sustainable resources, and to evaluate the efficacy and impact of this programme in a rigorous way.

Through this programme, senior undergraduate students worked together in teams through a mediated learning programme to build scale-model electric vehicles and mini solar charging stations – powered by solar energy (or batteries charged through solar energy). This experience will steer them towards finding solutions and creating awareness around 21st century issues, and adapting to the development of technology and globalisation, essentially producing an interdisciplinary experience for UFS students.

Kovsie ACT eco-vehicle skills programme

According to the Kovsie ACT team, the eco-vehicle skills programme helps students understand how their decisions and actions affect the environment, and further implores them to build on their knowledge and skills in order to address and combat complex environmental issues, while taking sufficient action to maintain its healthy state and secure it for the future.

The skills development programme culminates in a race-day event where sustainable energy skills are put to the test.

A certificate endorsed by the UFS and donor partner merSETA will be issued to students who have participated and who have been successfully trained and developed in the eco-vehicle skills programme, giving them a head start to the working world.

For more information about the Kovsie ACT eco-vehicle skills programme, email ACT at ACT@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

UFS acts fast in expelling students for serious misconduct

2014-02-22

On the evening of Monday 17 February 2014, Muzi Gwebu, a fifth-year student in BCom Economics, while walking on the Bloemfontein Campus of the UFS, was side-swiped by a vehicle driving recklessly through campus. He followed the vehicle where it stopped at one of the residences and approached the two occupants. A confrontation started and he was assaulted by one of the occupants of the vehicle.

Gwebu sustained minor injuries and was immediately assisted by the university’s residence life division. He lodged a complaint of assault at the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The senior leadership of the UFS is shocked and outraged at this blatant act of violence against one of its students. The Vice-Chancellor and Rector, Prof Jonathan Jansen, says: “We regard this incident in a very serious light and we worked closely with the SAPS throughout the night to identify and locate the perpetrators who were driving with false number plates.”

With the assistance of the student leadership in one of the residences, the owner of the vehicle and his companion were traced this morning.

The two students were immediately handed to SAPS by the university’s Protection Services and were arrested on charges of attempted murder, assault and driving with false number plates.

In addition to the criminal investigation by the SAPS, the university is also conducting an urgent and formal investigation into the incident.

The university has offered Gwebu full counselling and support until he is fully recovered.

“It is sad and disappointing that, after so much progress with the social transformation of the UFS, such a horrific incident could have occurred. It is pleasing, however, that across the board, all our students condemned these vicious acts. The students, if found guilty in the criminal and institutional investigations, will definitely not be allowed to study at the University of the Free State,” he said.

END

Statement by Dr Willy Nel, Residence Head of Armentum men’s residence

The Residence Head, Residence Committee and all residents of Armentum male residence on the Bloemfontein Campus unequivocally distance themselves from any behaviour which does not breathe the letter and spirit of the University of the Free State's vision of Human Embrace and Academic Excellence. We work tirelessly to upend traditions that are contradicting this vision. Therefore we add our voice to those who condemn the incident in which ex-residents allegedly assaulted a pedestrian who is also a student of our institution. We express our support to and confidence in the university's and other processes to find justice in this matter.

Dr Willy Nel
Residence Head: Armentum

Media release
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Tel: +27(0)51 401 3422
Cell: +27(0)83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept