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22 October 2021 | Story Eugene Seegers | Photo Jolandi Griesel
Dr Arnelle Mostert receives the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for excellence in learning and teaching from the Vice-Rector: Academic, Dr Engela van Staden, at the annual Learning and Teaching Awards ceremony held in Bloemfontein on 13 October 2021.
The annual Learning and Teaching conference was held virtually by the Centre for Teaching and Learning from 13 to 15 September 2021. The conference, with the theme Quality and Innovation for a New Blended Learning Future, culminated in the annual UFS Learning and Teaching Awards, held on the Bloemfontein Campus on 13 October.

Highlights from Learning and Teaching Awards

This year, the Centre for Teaching and Learning recognised various academic staff members in different learning and teaching categories during the annual Learning and Teaching Awards ceremony. The categories included innovation in learning and teaching (curriculum design / assessment / student engagement / technology-enhanced learning and teaching); research in learning and teaching (novice and advanced); as well as the Vice-Chancellor’s Award. The Vice-Chancellor’s Award acknowledges all-round excellence in the field of learning and teaching.

Dr Arnelle Mostert from the Faculty of Health Sciences, who brought home the Vice-Chancellor’s Award, says, “To win this award has been a dream of mine for a very long time. I am so excited and grateful, as this prize is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work. Excellence in teaching and learning, in my eyes, lies in the small acts we do daily: Improving one lecture at a time, one word of encouragement, helping one student understand a concept, and most of all, touching one heart at a time with kindness and compassion. These small acts create a ripple effect in many peoples’ lives, as the students we teach can touch the lives of many others."

Not only have academic staff been rewarded, but the most valued professional award recognised the contribution of academic support professionals towards the advancement of learning and teaching at the institution and acknowledged dedication, innovation, and excellence in the support sphere. 

Gugu Tiroyabone, winner of the Most Valued Professional award, says of this accolade, “For me, this recognition affirms the commitment of the UFS to Goal 1 of its Strategic Plan 2018-2022: To improve student success and well-being. Reflecting on the past 19 months, a changing educational climate, and an evolving learning and teaching landscape, I appreciate how the new challenges have helped us grow as an institution, both as staff and as students. I am extremely thankful to work alongside a resilient team that is committed to holistic student success both inside and outside the classroom.”

For the first time, the Departmental Award for learning and teaching was bestowed on the School of Accounting (Bloemfontein Campus) and the School of Education Studies (Qwaqwa Campus). These two departments have shown great commitment and involvement in improving learning and teaching under the leadership of Prof Frans Prinsloo and Dr Bekithemba Dube.

This year, the best Qwaqwa and the best Bloemfontein conference paper presentations each received an award. The awards were won by Dr Brian Sibanda (CTL, Qwaqwa Campus) for his paper Practicing decoloniality in English Academic Literacies, and Dr Rick de Villiers (The Humanities, Bloemfontein Campus) for his presentation on Close reading at a distance: Making remote learning intimate and intensive.


Highlights from conference

Day 1: The conference was opened by the international keynote speaker, Dr Carl S Moore, Assistant Chief Academic Officer at the University of the District of Columbia, who gave the presentation Access to Learning. This presentation highlighted the role of online and blended learning within the future of higher education.

Day 2: Guest keynote speaker, Dr Noluthando Toni, Director of Teaching Development at Nelson Mandela University, presented Towards re-imagined blended learning and teaching: Heeding student voices and participation to bolster education practices. Dr Toni’s presentation focused on contextualising the new blended learning and teaching environment within South Africa, and shared experiences from her institution during their remote learning and teaching strategy (2020/21).

Day 3: The guest keynote speakers, Dr Adriana Botha (educational psychologist and senior educational consultant: Blackboard) and Dennis Nevels, presented the paper From Conventional to Online Assessment – Rethink and Innovate, in which they focused on providing academic staff with innovative practices and ideas around online assessment.

Throughout the three days, UFS academic and support staff members shared quality learning and teaching projects and innovations through academic papers in different conference tracks.

News Archive

Agriculture must adapt to change
2008-11-28

 

At the launch of "50 years of agriculture" at the UFS were, from the left: Mr Corwyn Botha: Chairman: Agri Business Chamber and Managing Director: Cape Agri Group, Mr Motsepe Matlala, President of NAFU, Mr Hans van der Merwe, Executive Head: Agri SA, Prof. Herman van Schalkwyk: Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS, and Mr Sugar Ramakarane, Head: Department of Agriculture, Free State Province.
Photo: Lacea Loader
 “The biggest factor driving agriculture today is change. Our major challenge is to adapt to this changing environment.” This was stated by Prof. Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) during the recent celebration of the faculty’s “50 years in agriculture”.

Prof. Van Schalkwyk stated that the most important changes include power relationships in supply chains, consumer demand, new products and technology in agriculture, government action and developments in neighbouring states. “At the moment there is very little cooperation between small-scale farmers, small-scale farmers and commercial farmers and farmers and processors. There are also low levels of processing, low levels of value adding and a lack of creative thinking in agriculture," he said.

“This must change – we need comprehensive agricultural support and new business ideas in agriculture. We need better infrastructure, value chain financing and improved institutional support,” he said.

Speaking about agriculture and institutional co-operation in the Free State, Mr Sugar Ramakarane, Chief Director of the Free State Department of Agriculture, said that the UFS plays a vital role in bringing together organised agriculture in the province. “The responsibility of transforming our economy cannot be done by government alone. We need partners like the UFS to assist us with bringing together the two most important stakeholders of the agricultural sector, namely the National Farmers’ Union (NAFU) and Free State Agriculture. You can assist us with harnessing co-operation and providing practical solutions," he said

Mr Ramakarane said that his department is aware of the university’s good work with emerging farmers. “But, I want to encourage the university to help us with skills transfer and the development of the emerging farmers. You can play a vital role in developing a mentorship programme. Yours remains a central and critical role of being torch bearers in guiding the transformation agenda of our country," he said.

In his contribution on the challenges of small scale farmers in South Africa and the role of the university, Mr Motsepe Matlala, President of NAFU, said that unity in organised agriculture and working together with other stakeholders has become even more crucial with regard to the global challenges now faced by the country. “The university should take the lead in guiding all farmers on how to respond to, among others, the global financial turmoil and politics, developments in trade negotiations, food prices, input costs and the availability of energy," he said.

“If the UFS, and more specifically the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, is to continue to play a leading role in academia as well as in the production of research that matters to the growth and development of this country, it must adopt an approach that seeks to harness the capacity of everyone in an inclusive manner. The strides already made in this regard must be applauded,” Mr Matlala said.

Speaking on the future challenges in agriculture and the role of universities, Mr Hans van der Merwe, Executive Head of Agri SA said that South Africa has not spent money on agricultural development in a long time. “We must increase our product capacity in the agricultural sector. Universities must focus on cultivating enough expertise and the skills necessary to manage the resources and capacity needed," he said. In his view, South Africa must also focus on technological advancement in agriculture as this has also been neglected in the past. He urged universities to provide best-practice education and to look at international trends in agricultural training. “That is why we should not only focus our attention on South Africa, but on southern Africa,” Mr van der Merwe said.

In conclusion to the day’s programme, Mr Corwyn Botha, Chairperson of the Agricultural Business Chamber, Managing Director of the Cape Agri Group and former Kovsie stated that: “If you want to be an example of leadership, people around you must do better because you are there. A university should evaluate itself in this context. You cannot create solutions to problems with the same attitude in which the problems were created."

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
28 November 2008
 

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