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05 April 2022 | Story Cornelius Hagenmeier
One africa

One Africa – Together Forever

Theme: Celebrating African education as a conduit for African unity

On 25 May 2022, Africa will celebrate the 59th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Since the establishment of the OAU and with the subsequent formation of the African Union (AU), member States undertook to coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the people of Africa. They did so in awareness of the fact that – as the Cultural Charter for Africa states – "any people has the inalienable right to organize its cultural life in full harmony with its political, economic, social, philosophical and spiritual ideas".

The African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, Article 17, recognises that every individual shall have the right to education, and associates the intended realisation of this right with enabling individuals to participate freely in the cultural life of their communities. Furthermore, Article 17 of the Charter on Human and People's Rights also links the quest for education for all with the promotion and protection of moral and traditional values as recognised by African communities and families.

Unsurprisingly, the AU – which is the successor to the OAU – is undertaking extensive work in education. Its initiatives include establishing the Pan African University and harmonising African higher education. In continuance of the UFS' long tradition of commemorating Africa Day and the ideas underpinning it, the UFS will once again celebrate Africa in 2022. The highlight of the celebrations will be the Africa Day memorial lecture, hosted by the university's Centre for Gender and Africa Studies on Wednesday 25 May 2022. The speaker is Prof Bagele Chilisa from the University of Botswana, a renowned post-colonial scholar, researcher, author, educator, and African thought leader. The title of her presentation is Research and Knowledge Production: Africa and the Call for a Fifth Research Paradigm. In this lecture, Prof Chilisa will make a clarion call for bringing in indigenous knowledges of the formerly colonised peoples of Africa and other knowledges from marginalised peoples of the world, to be recognised as knowledge systems fitting a unique paradigm on equal footing with Western paradigms, and not to be used as vignettes to decorate websites of global corporations.

Call for contributions

The 2022 UFS Africa Month commemorations will again take a hybrid format. Besides the Africa Day memorial lecture and various face-to-face functions on all three campuses, there will also be online content on a dedicated website. We are looking for contributions that engage with African education. Among others, UFS community members are invited to make contributions centred on

  • the potential of African educational systems to contribute towards the quest for African unity;
  • the different African educational systems;
  • indigenous knowledge and education in Africa;
  • initiatives and programmes advancing a harmonised African higher education system;
  • the importance of African education;
  • the national, regional, and global impact of African scholarship;
  • UFS collaborations/partnerships on the African continent; and
  • ·narratives of research and student excellence associated with African unity.

Contributions from the UFS community can include and are not limited to

  • recorded performing arts performances (e.g., solo music or poetry);
  • ·virtual visual art presentations;
  • written poetry;
  • songs;
  • short thought/opinion pieces, which can also be published in mainstream media;
  • topical academic writings;
  • face-to-face events; and
  • live-streamed events (with links to the Africa Month webpage).

Please share a brief written proposal explaining your planned contribution by 15 April 2022. The proposal should not exceed 300 words and should be emailed to Bulelwa Moikwatlhai at malob@ufs.ac.za / Africadaycommemoration@ufsacza.onmicrosoft.com.

News Archive

Accreditation status of the UFS School of Medicine
2016-06-14

This communication is a factual correction of the misinformation and accompanying hysteria that appeared in a local newspaper this past week on the accreditation status of programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences’ School of Medicine. Here are the facts:
 
1. The flagship programme of the School of Medicine, the MB ChB, was fully accredited by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) through the year 2020. This is the maximum accreditation status that any programme can achieve, and the UFS leadership is extremely pleased with this outcome, as it expresses confidence in the work done by our academics in the School of Medicine. Not only was the basic medical training for new doctors fully accredited, the HPSCA approved an increase in the number of trainee doctors from 140 to 160, and also approved additional training sites in Trompsburg and Kimberley.
 
2. The honours programmes of the School of Medicine received full accreditation as well.
 
3. All the master’s degree programmes in the School of Medicine also received accreditation. The UFS is especially pleased with the significant improvements in the Department of Cardiology, which now has a full complement of staff under the leadership of the highly regarded cardiologist, Prof Makoali Makotoko.
 
4. Four master’s programmes received provisional accreditation, which means that (a) these programmes continue to be taught and (b) outstanding issues, such as inadequate staffing, must be fixed. It does not mean that these programmes will be or are likely to be discontinued.
 
5. It is a fact that staff retire or resign in all schools and departments of any university. It is also true that these departures offer opportunities to bring new academic and professional staff into the UFS. In fact, for the first time virtually every department in the School of Medicine now has a full-time Head of Department and 46 new staff were appointed since January 2015.
 
6. The main employer of academic staff in the School of Medicine is the provincial Department of Health (DoH), and the UFS works very closely and persistently with the Free State DoH to ensure that vacant posts are filled.
 
7. The attacks on the integrity of the outgoing Head of the School of Medicine were malicious. Prof Alan St Clair Gibson did not resign ‘overnight’; his departure has nothing to do with the accreditation status of the School – in fact, he can be proud of this achievement; and he effectively takes up a promotion post in New Zealand as academic Dean at the University of Waikato. Prof St Clair Gibson will be remembered for his leadership in transformation, especially regarding staff and student equity in the School of Medicine, and for securing our programme accreditation. For this, the university is deeply grateful.

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27(0)51 401 2584 | +27(0)83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27(0)51 444 6393

 

 



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