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13 September 2021 | Story Bulelwa Moikwatlhai | Photo Supplied
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, 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 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.

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 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

UFS first tertiary institution in SA to form association with the Arbinger Institute
2008-02-15

 

 A two-day seminar entitled: "The Choice and The Choice @ Work" was recently presented in Bloemfontein to companies in the Free State region. Here are, from the left: Mr Braam Botha (Well @ Work), Mr Jozef Myburgh (Telkom), and Dr Cobus Pienaar (from the Department of Industrial Psychology at the UFS and facilitator of the Arbinger Programme).
Photo: Lacea Loader

 

UFS first tertiary institution in SA to form association with the Arbinger Institute

The University of the Free State (UFS) has become the first tertiary institution in the country to form an association with the Arbinger Institute in the United States of America (USA).

“The Arbinger Institute is a global management training and consulting firm applying the implications of self-deception and its solutions to all aspects of organisational performance. Our association with this Institute is a major step for the development of leadership in the country,” says Mr Danie Jacobs, Head of the Centre for Business Dynamics at the UFS.

Dr Cobus Pienaar, from the Department of Industrial Psychology at the UFS, is currently the only licensed facilitator to present Arbinger’s work in South Africa. Dr Pienaar presents The Choice and The Choice @ Work programme on behalf of the Centre for Business Dynamics, under the banner of the UFS School of Business.

According to Mr Jacobs, the programme has already had successes in South Africa. “Dr Pienaar presented the first programme last year in Bloemfontein and Pretoria to leaders from various companies. The feedback on the application of the programme to the South African business environment was phenomenal,” says Mr Jacobs.

The Arbinger Institute’s change work grows out of the scholarly work of philosopher Terry Warner. With an international team of scholars, Warner has broken new ground in solving the age-old problem of self-deception, or what was originally called “resistance”.

“This phenomenon is at the heart of much organisational failure. It is the reason why many organisational problems seem so intractable at their core – they are in self-deception; they resist solution,” says Mr Jacobs.

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  
15 February 2008

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