Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
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

UFS Rector takes three months sabbatical leave
2008-05-05

The Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof. Frederick Fourie, has announced that he will be taking three months sabbatical leave as from Thursday, 8 May 2008.

Prof. Fourie recently made the request for sabbatical leave to the Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke. The request was approved given the fact that Prof. Fourie has occupied a number of demanding top-management posts for almost nine years, during which time he had to manage a number of major changes at the UFS.

According to Prof. Fourie, he originally wanted to go on sabbatical leave in the second half of 2007 before the start of his second term as rector, but it was not possible at that stage.

He was last on sabbatical in 1996 before he became Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences in 1997 and Vice-Rector: Academic Operations in 1999.

He could not take his next five-yearly leave because in the post of vice-rector he was tasked with leading the financial-turnaround strategy for the UFS from the year 2000 and had to act as rector when the previous rector, Prof. Stef Coetzee, was on sick leave. Since being inaugurated as rector in 2003, there was also no opportunity to take leave as a result of the many key projects and urgent initiatives.

The Vice-Rector: Academic Operations and vice-chairperson of the Senate, Prof. Teuns Verschoor, will be the acting rector. Management processes and decision-making will continue as normal under the leadership of the acting rector together with the Executive Committee of the Executive Management (Exco) and the Executive Management. This applies to the decision about the future of the Reitz Residence as well as the continuing implementation of the policy on diversity in student residences.

According to Judge Hancke it was important that Prof. Fourie took sabbatical leave in the light of the long period he has been at the forefront of very demanding changes. There are many challenges that still lie ahead.

During his leave Prof. Fourie will be involved with the Higher Education South Africa (HESA) investigation into diversity and racism on campuses, with research and a national conference on institutional culture, as well as the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) benchmarking project and its conference in Australia at the end of August 2008.

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