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24 August 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
UFS vegetable garden
A variety of vegetables, including beans, spinach, onions, and carrots, are sheltered in 40 vegetable boxes in the two 300 m² tunnels opposite the Welwitschia Residence on the Bloemfontein Campus.

At the University of the Free State (UFS), research findings have indicated that 59% of students do not know where their next meal will come from. The recent COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the unemployment rate of 34,9%, adding to the likelihood of our students being affected even more by food insecurity. 

One of the initiatives the university has created to address the issue, is a vegetable production and training programme. The purpose of the programme, which was established by the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, KovsieACT, and the Food Environment Office, is to teach students how to produce vegetables. 

A variety of vegetables, including beans, spinach, onions, and carrots, are sheltered in 40 vegetable boxes in the two 300 m² tunnels opposite the Welwitschia Residence on the Bloemfontein Campus. Not only is this initiative providing students with fresh produce that supplements the food parcels they receive from the Food Environment Office through the No Student Hungry Project. It also provides them with the opportunity to get involved on a voluntary basis in the food production process, including the planting and harvesting of the vegetables. 

Food production is an important skill in growing one’s own food. Moreover, it is also a valuable skill for students to transfer to their communities back home.

From mid-August through to the end of October is planting season for a number of vegetables. Starting spring on a high note, the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, KovsieACT, and the Food Environment Office invited food security activist, Thabo Olivier, to address the university community and provide some valuable guidelines to grow your own food in innovative ways. 

Date: Thursday 1 September 2022
Time: 13:00
Venue: Thakaneng Bridge

Invest in your future and join the event, which will include hands-on harvesting from the vegetables gardens as well as a food demonstration. 

More information: Teddy Sibiya on SibiyaLT@ufs.ac.za at KovsieAct. 

Grow you own vegetables

News Archive

Senior leadership approves CSRC appeal
2012-05-14

The senior leadership of the UFS has approved the appeal lodged by the Central Student Representative Council (CSRC) to allow students deregistered on 30 April 2012 for not meeting their financial obligations, to write the May/June 2012 exams.
 
As from 14 May 2012, a relatively small number of 428 deregistered students will automatically have their registration reinstated and they will be granted the opportunity to write exams, provided that they have obtained a 40% predicate mark for each module.
 
A name list of the deregistered students will be sent to the heads of departments where they were enrolled. Only students who have obtained a 40% semester mark will be permitted to write exams.
 
Today the Executive Committee of Senate approved a recommendation that those students who only become aware of this arrangement after one of their scheduled modules has already been examined, may apply for permission to the Academic Timetables and Venues Office, Room 166, George du Toit Administration Building on the Bloemfontein Campus, to write a special examination. On the Qwaqwa Campus students may apply for permission to the Examination Section, Room 137 in the Administration Building.
 
This will, however, be a once-off opportunity and students will not be afforded another opportunity to write exams if they miss the first examination opportunity as well as the special examination. A student who writes only the special examination and fails will not be given a further opportunity. A student who writes the main examination and does poorly, but qualifies for a supplementary examination, may write the supplementary examination in the additional examination period.
 

This arrangement applies to all UFS campuses.
 

Media Release
14 May 2012
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: +27(0)51 401 2584
Cell: +27(0)83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

 

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