Latest News Archive

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

Create to innovate to differentiate: Virtual Expo 2021

12 May 2021 | Story Ilze Bakkes

The COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa and the subsequent national lockdown severely impacted the usual physical open day mass-marketing tactic. At the same time, it provided an opportunity for the Department of Student Recruitment Services (SRS) to be super creative and agile in promoting the UFS offerings to the target audiences.

Once a year, the UFS invites prospective learners and parents to visit our campuses for a taste of campus life. But for many interested students, especially those living remotely or abroad, a site visit is not always practical. Furthermore, the 2021 open days on the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses were again cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 Virtual Open Day proved that breaking from the traditional recruitment tactics and moving into the virtual domain was not only bold and innovative, but also offered more engagement and communication opportunities with prospective students. Building on the insights and success of COVID-19 response engagements, the Department of Student Recruitment Services has once again developed an immersive virtual experience for prospective students.

Ilze Bakkes, Chief Officer: Integrated Marketing and Innovation from the Department of Student Recruitment Services, says: “We listened to the needs and wants of our prospective students and staff. Therefore, the 2021 Virtual Expo will have undergraduate, postgraduate, and international student recruitment foci, offering more and relevant information in a visual, multi-layered, and digital way.” Information is presented through videos, photos, downloadable PDF brochures, and links to marketing material and the online application platform.

A challenge during the physical open day is the lack of time to engage with faculties or that not all the information could be obtained. The Virtual Expo is live now click here and can be visited until 30 September 2021, when applications to study undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in 2022 close. The Virtual Expo offers a professional, easy-to-navigate and hassle-free digital experience of the academic, social, and cultural life at the UFS on all three campuses – in the convenience of the visitor’s own space and time. Subtexts for videos enable differently abled visitors to enjoy the content, and data-sensitive visitors can download the PDF versions of videos.

Applications to study in 2022 are already open. To apply, click here (link to online application). For important closing dates, download the UFS Undergraduate Prospectus

For information on the Virtual Expo, contact Ilze Bakkes at +27 51 401 9028 or bakkese@ufs.ac.za.

News Archive

South Campus supplementary schools foster future Kovsies

2016-07-13

The Monyetla Bursary Project, in partnership with the University of the Free State (UFS) and other sponsors, presents an annual Winter School for Grade 12s on the South Campus. In addition, a Saturday school for Grade 12s has been in operation since 2007.

“Champion teachers
in the district
assist learners”

Chris Grobler, a science teacher at Navalsig High School in Bloemfontein, is the organiser of both schools. He says, “I saw it as a tragic state of affairs that those offering bursaries and the bright learners from our formerly disadvantaged schools were not meeting up with each other.”

The first year saw 300 learners attending, with five subjects being presented. This tally has since grown to 650 learners each Saturday, with 11 subjects being presented, including Business Studies, Computer Applications Technology (CAT), Geography, Maths, and English.

“Our vision was to get champion teachers in the district to assist learners to qualify for university bursaries,” says Grobler. The project has succeeded in attracting educators with extensive experience as chief markers or even subject advisors in the Department of Education.

Description: Winter school Tags: Winter school

Roald Rautenbach presents the Computer Applications
Technology (CAT) class while Peet Jacobs interprets in SASL.
Video recordings are also made for later distribution.
Photo: Eugene Seegers

Wider reach

“This year, the 1 200 learners at the Winter School hail not only from the Free State but also from as far as North-West, Gauteng, and the Eastern Cape.” Grobler says, “We are very pleased about this, as it means that the image of the UFS is being carried further afield.”

Lesego Modisele, one of the visiting learners from Parys, says, “I like how they brought in teachers that are heads of their subjects, who are very experienced and help us a lot. They explain how exam papers are set and which important things to focus on.”

By means of the Schools Partnership Programme (SPP), 250 learners from Thaba Nchu and Botshabelo have also been assisted. Katleho Setloho, who was one of these students, is currently a medical student at the UFS.

A special feature included in this year’s programme is interpreting services in South African Sign Language (SASL) for Deaf students. As an added bonus, a disc of the sessions in SASL is being compiled for English, Mathematics, and CAT, with plans for it to be distributed to the deaf community in the rest of South Africa via the UFS.

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