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18 May 2021 | Story Ilse Smalberger

Ghanaian politician and revolutionary, Kwame Nkrumah, famously said: “We face neither East, nor West; we face forward.”

At a time when Africa can be torn between the economic and trade pressures of the East and the political demands of the West, it makes sense that moving the continent forward is a huge priority. This is a belief that lies at the heart of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) 2018-2022 Internationalisation Strategy.  This strategy follows the 2020 Policy Framework on the Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa, by seeking to further not only South Africa’s interests, but also the interests of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Africa, among others.

Celebrating Africa Month

As part of celebrating Africa and advancing African unity, the UFS celebrates Africa Month in May, culminating in the Africa Day Memorial Lecture – this year held as a webinar on 19 May.  According to Dr Stephanie Cawood, Director of the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies that is hosting the Africa Day Memorial Lecture, Prof Walter D Mignolo, arguably one of the greatest scholars of decoloniality, will deliver the address.

“Since the inception of the Africa Day Memorial Lecture in 2009, we have hosted some of the greatest African intellectuals, including Profs Achille Mbembe, Ali Mazrui, Ngugi wa Thiongo’o, Mahmoud Mamdani, and Paul Zeleza, to name a few,” says Dr Cawood.  

As the home of research and study on Africa and its people at the UFS, she believes that it is important for this university to enlarge its footprint on the continent.

“Our destiny is intimately tied to the future of the continent, and there are exciting things happening in academia across the continent in spite of the many challenges,” she says. “For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented opportunities for innovation in Africa, such as the sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 genome in Nigeria and South Africa.  In fact, the UFS was involved in the testing of vaccines.”

UFS engagement on the continent

The UFS has come a very long way towards improving its African footprint in terms of research collaboration and diversifying the African profile of both staff members and students.  At institutional and faculty level, the UFS has memoranda of understanding with 14 higher education and research institutions in Africa.  Between 2017 and 2021, the UFS collaborated with 285 institutions in Africa, which resulted in more than 2 000 co-authored publications – the top five subject areas for collaboration being Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Medicine, Social Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, and Environmental Science.

The UFS is also an active member of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM).  Universities engaging with each other through these platforms contribute to capacity-building and development on the continent. 

A rich tapestry of international student life

Staff and students from Africa who enrol at the UFS also contribute to the rich tapestry of the university’s student life.  The UFS is currently home to students from as far afield as Egypt, Ethiopia, and Ivory Coast, but most of our African students hail from our neighbouring countries Lesotho and Zimbabwe. 

“Our international students from the African continent contribute significantly to creating a culturally and intellectually diverse environment on our campuses and provide our local students with an opportunity to obtain international experience without leaving the UFS,” comments Cornelius Hagenmeier, Director of the Office for International Affairs. 
One of our African students, Deborah Adesokan who was born in Nigeria, is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Criminology while working as an academic tutor in the Department of Sociology.  She says her experience at the UFS has been an eventful journey, with plenty of opportunities for personal and academic growth.  She is also very thankful for the awards and bursaries she has received.

“I applaud the UFS for giving African students the opportunity to apply for bursaries, as this is a major concern for many African students,” she says.  “I am also fortunate to have a job on campus related to my field of interest, which is academia, where I continue to gain valuable experience.”

Adesokan says she is looking forward to seeing the UFS affiliate with more universities in Nigeria by creating exchange programmes. 

Knowledge production for the continent

“Furthermore, I hope to see the university create an African community space where African scholars and leading researchers from various disciplines can converge to talk about and conduct research pertaining to the challenges faced by Africa.” 

With regard to the specific UFS African engagements and collaborations, there are just too many to mention in one article. 

Says Hagenmeier: “Colleagues in our seven faculties and three campuses enrich research, teaching, and engaged scholarship through their African engagements.”  

Definitely deserving of mention, is the UFS being part of the consortium ‘Fostering Research and Intra-African Knowledge Transfer through Mobility and Education (FRAME)’, consisting of five African universities that were awarded the highly competitive Intra-Africa Mobility Grant sponsored by the European Union. This project enables mobility of master’s and doctoral students and staff on the African continent. 

News Archive

UFS student registration shows good progress
2005-01-31

The registration of students on the main campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) is on track and is progressing well. More than 2000 first-time entering first-year students have already registered.

“We are happy with the registration progress and have experienced no major problems. Other than last year, the registration of all students is taking place in the Callie Human Centre. A one stop service is available to students on the premises – among others advice on bursaries, loans, staff and council bursaries, enquiries for international students, information on class and room tables, student cards, vehicle permits etc, “said Mr Vernon Collett, Registrar: Academic Student Services at the UFS.

According to Mr Collett students are registered on the UFS’s new PeopleSoft

software programme, which was installed last year.

“In the past a student’s data had to be captured and he/she had to wait for a proof of registration. This prolonged the registration process. This year the Callie Human Centre was equipped with a complete data capturing centre comprising of 85 computers. Students no longer have to stand and wait for a proof of registration. An SMS is sent to the student per cell phone within 48 hours to confirm whether the registration was successful or not. Students can also track their registration information on the UFS web site,” said Mr Collett.

Senior undergraduate students may register until 29 January 2005 and postgraduate students, first-time entering first-year students and other students who applied for admission after 30 November 2004 until 15 January 2005 , may register from 31 January- 4 February 2005 according to a programme. Senior students who have not register yet, will also be allowed to register from 31 January 2005-4 February 2005 according to the scheduled programme.

According to Mr Collett postgraduate students who applied for admission from 15 January- 11 February 2005 , may register according to a programme from 7-11 February 2005. Students who want to change their field of study or want to amend their modules, may do so during this period.

“Pipeline students from Vista must register on the UFS’s Vista campus on the dates already mentioned and first-year students from Vista must register on the UFS’s main campus. These students, including students on the UFS’s Qwaqwa campus, may register until 11 February 2005 ,” said Mr Collett.

Lectures at the UFS’s main campus as well as the Vista- and Qwaqwa-campusses will commence on 31 January 2005 .

A complete registration programme is available on the UFS’s web site at www.uovs.ac.za.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
28 January 2005

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