Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
05 April 2022 | Story Lacea Loader
Qwaqwa Campus

The preliminary finding of the urgent investigation into the fire on the Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) on the evening of Monday 4 April 2022, indicates that the two buildings were intentionally set alight. This was established by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the university’s Protection Services this morning.

Since the outbreak of the fire, one person – who is a registered student – has been arrested by SAPS, and a process is underway to identify more suspects. The UFS will institute the necessary disciplinary action against suspects who are registered students. Similarly, criminal charges will also be instituted.

The buildings, which housed the clinic and a computer laboratory, were almost completely destroyed, with damage to both buildings estimated at R35 million.

The university management condemns the destructive behaviour of the students and condemns criminal behaviour such as this in the strongest terms. “The Qwaqwa Campus, as well as the entire university community, are shocked by this devastating and irresponsible act – especially after the campus experienced violent protest action this year, which significantly affected the academic programme,” said Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

The academic programme on the Qwaqwa Campus continues, mostly online for this week, and students will be informed by their faculties about the revised schedule, as well as arrangements regarding tests and assessments scheduled for this week on the campus.

The campus remains open; the university's Protection Services is on high alert and is monitoring the situation on campus closely.

It is alleged that students were unhappy about the payment of allowances they are due to receive from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in April 2022. To alleviate this, the UFS has so far this year offered students allowances for food and books amounting to more than R71 million, while they are waiting for their NSFAS subsidies to be released. 


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


News Archive

Two Kovsies play sevens rugby for SA
2009-05-29

The University of the Free State (UFS) has two players in the South African Sevens Rugby Team. Robert Ebersohn, B Comm General Management student and Philip Snyman, B Agric student, have been wearing the green and gold since October 2008 and represented South Africa at a number of tournaments, amongst others in Dubai, George SA, Wellington New Zealand, San Diego in the USA, Hong Kong, Adelaide Australia, London England and Edinburgh in Scotland.

Both players played in the tournaments and their performance in the team was exceptional. The last match that Robert played was on Sunday, 24 May 2009 during the semi-final against New Zealand at Twickenham in England. He will miss the last match in Scotland because he will join the SA U-20 group to practice for the World Championships in Japan.

Four Kovsie rugby players represented the UFS in the South African Student Sevens Rugby team that toured France. They are Johan van Niekerk, Wouter Stieger, Lionel Cronjé and Marlin Ruiters. Due to a concussion Marlin could not join the tour.

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