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25 August 2022 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Supplied
Day-residence representatives hard at work during the outreach programme aimed at attracting off-campus students to join any of the several day residences.

The impact of COVID-19 on students who started their studies at the UFS in 2020 and 2021, is the fact that they had to experience the UFS student life virtually. As such, the ability to experience day-residence culture was minimal.
Consequently, the SRC: Day Residences, Nontando Kalipa, along with representatives from the seven day residences and the SRC, visited off-campus accommodation as a means to market day residences. The initiative ran from 1 to 4 August 2022. “We went to various communes and other student accommodation such as Quattro, CampusKey, and ResPublica, and explained our mandate as SRC: Day Residences to the off-campus students,” Kalipa expressed.

The Importance of the Initiative

According to Kalipa, there is a lack of knowledge about the role and relevance of day residences in student life; this was seen in the responses received from some of the off-campus students who were approached during the outreach. “We came across some students who had never heard of day residences, and others who knew of them but didn’t really understand their function,” stated Kalipa. Therefore, she insisted that representatives from the respective day residences should also be involved in the initiative. “The RC primes were there specifically to share their experiences about day residences with off-campus students,” said Kalipa.

The Relevance of Day Residences in Student Life

“Day residences offer a holistic student experience, so off-campus students can expect any of the seven day residences to assist them in becoming well-rounded individuals,” expressed Corbin Butler, the incoming SRC for Day Residences. These spaces offer off-campus students access to cultural and sporting activities, such as Stagedoor, SingOff, and basketball tournaments, among others. On-campus students have the advantage of being exposed to other students from all walks of life and interacting with them consistently. As such, Butler maintains that day residences aim to bridge the existing gap by creating that very same experience for off-campus students. “We don’t want you to just get a degree and leave, we also want to capacitate you with life skills, and that’s the benefit of being part of a day residence,” Butler stated.

News Archive

Staff pay a successful visit to the University of Minnesota
2008-08-01

 

Staff from the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Prof. Herman van Schalkwyk, dean of the faculty, and prof. Izak Groenewald, director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development, recently paid a successful visit to the University of Minnesota in the United States of America (USA). They visited among others the Minnesota Council on Economic Education (MCEE) and had talks with a representative of Cargill Inc., the world’s largest privately owned corporation. There is a good possibility that substantive monetary support will result from this interaction between the UFS and the University of Minnesota. During the visit were, from the left, back: Prof. Van Schalkwyk, Prof. Groenewald and Mr Tim Bodin, member of the MCEE council of directors and economist from Cargill Inc.; front: Dr Nona Mason, chairperson of the MCEE and director of the Master’s Programme in Business Communication at the St. Thomas University, and Prof. Claudia Parliament, executive director of the MCEE and professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. Prof. Parliament recently completed her sabbatical leave at the UFS.
Photo: Supplied
 

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