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Embracing diversity in virtual spaces

13 September 2021 | Story Bulelwa Moikwatlhai | Photo Supplied

Mosa Moerane copy — Ms. Mosa Moerane; UFS officer: Kovsie support services.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world into a new normal, with no tips on how to navigate it, nor an end date in sight. We have all found ourselves learning, piloting, evaluating, and repeating the process. Fortunately, one can now say that we have somehow found a balance; however, in this balance, a lot of variables are emerging. One of these is how our diversity impacts the way we interact when we use virtual spaces. As a university, we serve people of diverse cultures daily – hence, as an office, we wanted to explore this variable further. Furthermore, as an institution of higher education, we have a responsibility to contribute knowledge about teaching and learning in virtual spaces.

The purpose of the International Cultural Diversity Festival is to have intellectual engagements; to learn from experts as well as peers (educate); to teach one another (information sharing); to have social cohesion and to celebrate the diverse cultures through artistic expressions. All of this will be done under the theme ‘embracing diversity in virtual spaces.’ Some of the topics include practising cultural sensitivity; how to incorporate diversity, honour, respect, and your cultural background; social media communication with people of diverse cultures; the psychology of human behaviour and cross-cultural networking in virtual spaces; as well as how the UFS strives to embrace diversity in virtual spaces.

Date: 17 September 2021

Topic: Embracing diversity in virtual spaces

Time: 10:00

Venue: 2021 ICDF

Facilitator: Ms Mosa Moerane

Panellists:

Prof Katherine Wimpenny

Professor of Research in Global Learning at Coventry University

Dr. Grey Magaiza

Head of Community Development at the UFS and Program Director in the Faculty of Humanities at the QwaQwa campus

Ms. Reabetswe Mabine

Marketing and Communication strategist: UFS Postgraduate School

Mrs Bulelwa Moikwatlhai

Coordinator: Internationalisation at Home and Inbound Student Mobility

Biographies of panellist

Prof Katherine Wimpenny

Prof Katherine Wimpenny, PhD, leads the research theme ‘Global Education: Learning without Boundaries’ in the Research Institute for Global Learning, Coventry University, UK. Prof Wimpenny’s research focuses on contextualised and comprehensive internationalisation at the interface of decolonisation of education practices, embedded in the broader context of curriculum transformation. She is researching a diversity of learning spaces (digital – especially Collaborative Online International learning, face to face, blended, formal, and non-formal) that interweave to impact educational opportunities, which can serve to connect international learning communities, as well as to connect the university to its locale. Prof Wimpenny has a substantial track record as principal and co-investigator on large-scale international education research projects and disseminates her work widely through a range of publications/media.

Dr. Grey Magaiza

Dr Magaiza is a social scientist with an interest in community development, particularly participatory, bottom-up approaches to social change. He uses his interest in inclusive development approaches to not only theorise sustainable change, but also to critically reflect on the role of science and knowledge in community change. As a scholar of community development, he has used this knowledge with student structures such as Enactus to look for ways of using business principles to improve communities. Dr Magaiza is also coordinating the UK-USDP project that currently has 10 staff members enrolled as PhD students at the UFS, Univen, and the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland.

He is currently the Head of Community Development at the UFS and Programme Director in the Faculty of the Humanities on the Qwaqwa Campus.

Ms. Reabetswe Mabine

Being multi-faceted often makes it difficult to discover your voice and place in this fast-paced society; this is, however, not the case with Reabetswe Mabine – also known as Rea Mabine – who embodies authenticity and self-determinism. From pageantry to leadership and business, she positions herself as someone who is grounded and wants to achieve success on her terms.

Rea Mabine is a marketing and communications strategist who runs a branding and marketing consultancy that helps start-ups and small businesses to launch and position their businesses competitively within their industries, using effective marketing and communication strategies as well as strategic brand development.

- She is a friend of ‘The Network’ – a show on City Radio, which is an online radio station where she gives her expert opinion on topics about digital marketing, social media, and legal aspects in the marketing field.

- She is the former Youth President of Phenomenal Women Youth Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an organisation aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship among young females in South Africa.

- In 2018, she was recognised as Young Woman of Achievement by the Free State Heroines Awards Ceremony. This award recognises a young female who portrays outstanding involvement with youth-related initiatives and shows excellence in her pursuits.

- She is a Play Your Part, Brand SA ambassador.

- Rea Mabine co-produced, co-directed, and co-presented a television show that aired on national TV and received an award for the best traditional TV programme at the nationally renowned South African Traditional Music Awards (SATMA).

- Rea Mabine was a top-10 finalist for Miss Heritage South Africa in 2016, and the first-ever to be crowned Miss Heritage Free State.

Despite her achievements, she stays grounded and is always looking for the next challenge. Rea Mabine is also passionate about professional and career development for women; initiatives that empower women are very close to her heart.

Mrs Bulelwa Moikwatlhai

Mrs Moikwatlhai is passionate about student life and integration; internationalisation; the development of students’ international and intercultural competencies, as well as ensuring that all UFS students have an international experience during their studies at the UFS. She achieves this by developing co-curricular activities that help to improve students’ experiences at the UFS. As the university’s expert on internationalisation at home, she uses her knowledge to improve first-year experiences in her capacity as a member of the UFS First-Year Experience (FYE) Committee. Mrs Moikwatlhai is also the university’s expert on student mobilities, coordinating and managing the UFS’ first virtual mobility programme. Additionally, she coordinates and manages the UFS’ flagship integration programme for local and international students in the Umoja Buddy Programme.

She currently leads the University of the Free State Internationalisation at Home and Inbound Student Mobility portfolio in the Office for International Affairs.

News Archive

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC

2005-08-03

The UFS Central SRC

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC of the University of the Free State, Mr Tello Motloung on Wednesday 3 August 2003

The Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke,
The Vice-chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie
The Vice-Rector Student Affairs of the UFS, Dr Ezekiel Moraka
The Presidents of the main campus SRC and the Vista campus SRC
Colleagues in the Central SRC, campus SRCs, students and fellow South Africans

Please receive my heartfelt revolutionary greetings

Vice-chancellor and rector what I bring here with me assisted by facts, is just the work of my imagination. Like a love letter addressed to a sweetheart miles away, even though you do not know how she feels, what she wants to hear, and do not even know what she looks like.

I value speech as just an honest intimation, that’s why I got into a habit of establishing a dialogue with people, looking at each other’s face, and persuading one another of what we are saying.

Vice-chancellor, today marks an important milestone in the history of the existence of the UFS. Today reflects the confidence and trust that students of the UFS have placed in us. They are confident that the Central SRC has both the will and the capacity to take our university forward as we confront the challenge of transformation.

Students are confident that they are correct to trust the Central SRC as the principal agent of change in our university that is genuinely committed to the objective of building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic university. We need to frankly ask ourselves, as CSRC members, whether are we up to all these challenges?

All Central SRC members have to understand this fully, internalize it, and ensure that everything we do, does not betray the confidence and trust of students, or disappoint their expectations. I say this knowing that all Central SRC members have committed themselves to serve the students of the UFS, black and white, and no one among us (CSRC) needs any special lectures about this central commitment.

The UFS should be an omnibus, welcoming everybody on board. But we should be a bus with a clear direction. We will certainly lose our way if we, as an institution, don’t have a clear road map spelling out where we are heading to.

There should be clear guidelines on the role of students in the transformation process. Students should also be viewed as role players in transformation along with the University management, and not just opposing forces. There is no right time, other than this one, to move away from the politics of opposition to politics of transformation.

However, we need the support of management to do so. The University should value the role and contribution of student leaders, hear our legitimate claims and consider them as part of political and policy decision making.

Vice-chancellor and Rector, it remains our task to ensure that the UFS is transformed into an institution that is seen to be playing a vigilant role in developing students academically, intellectually, socially, culturally, politically and otherwise. The process of transformation is not ending tonight, it is just beginning tonight.

Judge Hancke, Prof Fourie, Dr Moraka, fellow students and fellow South Africans, I lead students at this university with a sense of pride and duty, and I know very well that I lead men and women, students who are all determined that we reach our destination safely and on time.

A navy divided within its ranks will be destroyed and vanquished by the enemy, but the navy united in purpose and action, loyalty and commitment will not sink but sail on to victory.

It is befitting to mention that every drop of my blood is telling me that the UFS is my home. I firstly became a student here, I became the SRC treasurer in my first year here, I became the deputy president here, and I became the first president of the Central SRC of the UFS.

Therefore you should never doubt my commitment towards the transformation of this university. To paraphrase what was said by students at another institution, “If there is no UFS in heaven, then I am not going.”

Let me conclude by thanking my ancestors for teaching me that even if I wined and dined with kings and queens, I am not a king myself, so I should not turn my back on people who made me what I am today.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the Almighty God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving me time and power to lead this university.

It will be theoretically irresponsible if I ended my speech without indicating that “Only a Kovsie knows the feeling”.

I thank you.

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