Latest News Archive

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

SASL Star: Simoné du Preez

22 September 2021 | Story Michelle Nöthling | Photo Supplied

“A community needs a culture, and a culture needs a language.” Pause a moment and consider these words of Simoné du Preez.

How do we express our beliefs, values, customs, and norms, if not through language? The same is true for the Deaf – who are a minority cultural group in its own right. “Sign Language is the language in which the Deaf community laughs, cries, learns, and loves,” Simoné, a South African Sign Language (SASL) interpreter at the University of the Free State (UFS), points out. “Without it, no expression – and no cultural expression – can take place.”

Simoné’s passion for SASL was ignited while studying BA Language Practice at the UFS. Taking SASL as a main subject, she fell in love with the language, the culture, the history, and its people. Simoné then went on to do her honour’s degree in Language Practice, with specialisation in SASL Interpreting, and she never looked back. During her seven years as an interpreter at the UFS, Simoné still feels humbled by the student community she serves. “I get to learn so much from students from every walk of life, studying anything from Education to the Arts to Actuarial Sciences.” She enjoys seeing what Deaf students are capable of and is also “proud to be a part of their success stories.”

She not only has a soft spot for our students, but also for the Department of SASL and Deaf Studies that has helped shape her into the interpreter she is today. Simoné adds that she loves working with the Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS). “It’s amazing to see what lengths Martie Miranda and her team are willing to go through in order to achieve equity and equality for our students with disabilities. I am humbled and honoured to be able to play a small role in their big plan.”

Always pushing herself to improve, Simoné has now set herself the goal of becoming a SASL interpreter accredited by the South African Translators’ Institute (SATI). It is immensely important for Simoné that the Deaf community has access to all information at all times – equal to that of a hearing person. The recognition of SASL as an official language in South Africa is vital to actualising this. Simoné underscores the fact that without this recognition, the Deaf are being silenced. “Their voices are just as important as every other person’s. It is time that we listen to what the Deaf community has to say.”

News Archive

Curriculum of UFS School of Management best in South Africa

2010-09-17

Prof. Helena van Zyl

The School of Management at the University of the Free State (UFS)’s curriculum has been rated in the September 2010 edition of the Financial Mail as the best in South Africa for the second successive year. According to Prof. Helena van Zyl, Director of the School of Management, this rating was done by the school’s MBA students and alumni after the Financial Mail had used an independent company to do a survey about business schools in South Africa.

Apart from its curriculum, from the group of 14 accredited business schools in South Africa, the UFS’s School of Management was also rated by its students and alumni as one of the top three schools in terms of the quality of its lecturers (first position), the degree to which the students enjoyed the course (third position) and the value for money that the school offers (third position).

“This positive rating means that we have clients that are really satisfied with our service, and that is important to us. Our students and alumni feel that we add value, that we empower them, and that we open worlds for them,” said Prof. Van Zyl.

“In this environment where business schools are very competitive, it is an important message to send out that students and alumni are satisfied. It influences prospective MBA students’ choice of a future institution where they would want to study.

“The fact that the UFS’s School of Management has received such a good evaluation, even though we are situated in the centre of South Africa and not in a commercial hub like Johannesburg or Pretoria, is a great privilege for us. Also, if the quality of the programme is taken into account, our MBA programme is very affordable and really offers value for money,” said Prof. Van Zyl.

The School of Management, which is the flagship of the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences at the UFS, affords this faculty a specific position in corporate South Africa.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
17 September 2010

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