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A day-residence drive: Exposing off-campus students to an on-campus home

25 August 2022 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Supplied

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

Fasset continues to fuel academic excellence at the UFS

2017-12-15

Programme Director: School of Accounting, Prof Hentie van Wyk, and
Dean: Economic and Management Sciences, Prof Hendri Kroukamp
excited about the unveiling of the Finance and Accounting Services
Sector Education and Training Authority (Fasset)
plaque at the School of Accounting.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

The School of Accounting on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) held an unveiling ceremony for a Finance and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Fasset) plaque. The plaque was unveiled by UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, and Fasset CEO, Lesego Lebuso. This was in honour of Fasset’s partnership with the UFS and its contribution towards driving academic excellence through its Intrabas projects over the past few years.

Funding for teaching and learning initiatives
These projects support the development of black student enrolment and performance in Accounting Studies. During the previous year, Fasset gave the UFS R54 million in funding to support teaching and learning initiatives for 960 black Accounting students. These students were enrolled for BAcc, BCom(Acc), BAcc(Hons)/PGDipCA, and BCom(Hons in Acc)/PGDipGA studies. In the same year, a celebratory ceremony was held at the South Campus for 125 Fasset-funded students to celebrate their academic excellence.

Prof Hentie van Wyk, Programme Director: School of Accounting, said, “FASSET funding will give the Centre for Accounting (as it was then called) an opportunity to strengthen our current student-centred teaching model”. This seemed like a prophecy, because at the beginning of 2017, the class of 2016 BAccHons students achieved a 96% pass rate in the 2017 Initial Test of Competence (ITC) examinations of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).

Millions contributed towards accounting degrees
In 2017, Fasset sponsored 114 students on the Bloemfontein Campus with full bursaries amounting to more than R20 million through the Intrabas bursary fund for degree qualifications in BAccHons, BComHons (Acc), BAcc, BComAcc and BComAcc Extended programmes, as well as the tutorial programme managed by the School of Accountancy. On the Qwaqwa Campus, Fasset has given more than R7 million worth of funding.

James Veitch, Senior Officer: School of Accounting, said, “A decision was made to rather fund less students so that they could be assisted with greater effect, and students who did not qualify for the bursaries, would still be assisted through the support programme.”

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