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21 April 2022 | Story NONSINDISO QWABE | Photo Supplied
Lerato Mbongo and Opheleleyo
Double belted! Opheleleyo Qwabe and Lerato Mbongo revel in the moment.

Their friendship began in high school, where they were constantly told by teachers that they would not make it to university, but these best friends never gave up. On Thursday 21 April 2022, they received their honours degrees in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences together during the afternoon ceremony of the University of the Free State’s April Graduations.

Lerato Mbongo and Opheleleyo Qwabe, who have been friends since Grade 9, said being picked on in class for not being the brightest learners brought them together and motivated them to work harder.Mbongo obtained a Bachelor of Agriculture Honours majoring in Wildlife Management, and Qwabe received a Bachelor of Agriculture Honours majoring in Agricultural Economics.

“We’ve always dreamed big, but if you had told us back then that we would one day be two-time graduates, we wouldn’t have believed it. During one of our Maths lessons back in Grade 9, our teacher went around asking the ‘smarter’ kids what they wanted to study after matric, but when he got to us, he said there was no point in asking because we wouldn’t make it that far anyway,” Qwabe said.

The friends, who both started at the university’s South Campus, said they were grateful for the UFS Preparation Programme, as it boosted both their marks and their confidence. “The programme helped us to believe in ourselves again, and also played a big role in helping us discover what we wanted to study. The courses we enrolled in really unlocked an unstoppable passion in us and helped us realise that nothing is impossible. Today, here we are celebrating 10 years of friendship, and our honours degrees. We’ve conquered once again, and we're sharing our victories together,” Mbongo said.

News Archive

CHE lifts notice of withdrawal of UFS LLB degree’s accreditation status
2017-11-16


The Council on Higher Education (CHE) has lifted the notice of withdrawal of the accreditation status of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) LLB degree. The degree is conditionally accredited with a progress report required in October 2018.

The Faculty of Law received this response to its Improvement Plan for the LLB degree from the CHE on 14 November 2017.

During 2016, a national review was conducted on all LLB programmes in order to strengthen the quality of legal education provision at all South African universities. On 30 March 2017, the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) approved the findings of the National Reviews Committee (NRC) with regard to the LLB programme at the UFS, and placed the qualification on a notice of withdrawal of accreditation.

The decision of the CHE this week comes after the faculty submitted the Improvement Plan during early October 2017. This plan sets out for the CHE the changes that will be effected in the LLB programme for 2018 and 2019 and provides an outline of the new LLB curriculum it intends to introduce in 2020.

“The university’s executive management is extremely pleased about the outcome and welcomes the lifting of the notice of withdrawal of accreditation status, as it comes during a critical time of the year when the new cohort of Law students is completing their Grade 12 exams. Prof Caroline Nicholson, Dean of the Faculty of Law, and her team are commended for the considerable effort put into the submission and the extensive attention that was specifically given to concerns raised by the CHE in terms of the number of credits in the degree,” says Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS. 

“There is hard work to be done going forward in ensuring that the UFS LLB degree is the very best on offer in South Africa, but with the continued support and commitment of the staff and students in the Faculty of Law, this vision is achievable,” says Prof Nicholson.

 

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

 

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