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12 April 2022 | Story Lacea Loader

The management of the University of the Free State (UFS) is deeply concerned about the continued xenophobic and Afrophobic attacks in our country, specifically the actions of, and statements made by groups and individuals. 

The UFS condemns all forms of xenophobic and Afrophobic actions and thinking and expresses its solidarity with the members of the university community hailing from other regions of the African continent and the world. The UFS is committed to promoting diversity, social justice, inclusivity, and transformation and is united in its diversity. As a university community, it cherishes diversity as a catalyst for positive change, innovative research, and cutting-edge teaching and learning. Xenophobic actions, threats, or statements will not be tolerated at the UFS. The UFS is committed to nurturing and entrenching a human-rights culture and advocating human rights, both within the context of the university and beyond.

Xenophobia, Afrophobia, and discrimination jeopardise the process of internationalisation at any university. It limits the international and multicultural exposure of our students, which is important to achieve graduate attributes and to specifically develop students’ international and intercultural competence. The UFS is strategically strengthening its collaborations and partnerships in Africa and beyond. It recognises the positive power of diversifying the knowledge paradigms with which it interacts. International staff members, postdoctoral fellows, and students make a significant contribution to the academic project, scholarship traditions, and intellectual diversity of the university. 

The management of the UFS will do everything in its power to ensure the well-being of all members of its international university community.

Xenophobia is the ‘fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign’ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), whereas Afrophobia can be understood as the ‘fear and hatred of the cultures and people of Africa’.





News Archive

Student receives prestigious international award for article
2008-08-07

 

Desmé Human, an honours student in Quantity Surveying at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Quantity Surveying and Construction Management, is the newest receiver of the Kenneth K. Humphreys Award. This award, which is seen as the most prestigious international award of its kind, was awarded to her for the most outstanding Quantity Surveying article submitted by a student or a young member of the International Cost Engineering Council (ICEC) for the period 2006-2008. The article, entitled: "Implementation of affirmative action and black economic empowerment in the construction industry", was judged by an international referee as an outstanding article which is worthy to be presented at an international conference. The award was handed to her at the 52nd annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) International and a world conference of the ICEC held in Toronto, Canada. Here she is with Prof. Basie Verster, departmental chairperson of the Department of Quantity Surveying and Construction Management at the UFS.
Photo: Supplied

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