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26 August 2022 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Supplied
Katleho Nkosi
Katleho Nkosi’s design, which won him second place in the national design competition during the Student Entrepreneurship Week 2022.

Katleho Nkosi, a fourth-year Education student at the University of the Free State (UFS), obtained second place in a national design competition hosted virtually by Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE). 

The national design competition formed part of the launch of the Student Entrepreneurship Week 2022, which took place at the University of Venda on 18 August 2022. As such, students from many of the universities in the country, including Nkosi, took part in designing a poster that would be used to advertise the event. 

Nkosi is delighted and excited about this accomplishment. “This win was really surprising and unbelievable for me, because obtaining the second-place position means that my work is good,” said Nkosi.

The participants were allowed to conceptualise and submit their final product between 28 June and 15 July 2022. “I had no experience in this space, I only designed content for fun, and I participated in this competition because I was motivated by a friend,” Nkosi highlighted. 

Click to view document  Click here to view poster in full size.


The motivation behind the design

Since the Student Entrepreneurship Week was held at the University of Venda, Nkosi used the vibrancy and colourfulness of Venda as inspiration for his design. “When I was designing the poster, the only thing on my mind was making sure that I put something together that was related to Venda,” he explained. In addition, the theme for the Entrepreneurship Week was ‘Move to Market’, and Nkosi asserts that he tried to integrate the theme with Venda, and this is how the design came about.

The outcome of the competition and future plans

Although Nkosi did not win the competition, he did receive a cash prize for being among the top three. Furthermore, given his accomplishment, Nkosi would like to take part in many more design competitions moving forward. “Now that I have realised that I have the potential to win, I think I can take this as a career path in the future,” he said. Nkosi is also looking at merging his love of teaching with his newfound love for design. “I’m going to try and find the connection between design and education, because I really love to teach, so I could perhaps become a design teacher,” Nkosi expressed

News Archive

Founding meeting of the Advisory Panel of the International Institute of Diversity
2008-11-21

The University of the Free State (UFS) today (20 November 2008) successfully convened and hosted the founding meeting of the Advisory Panel of the International Institute of Diversity.

In the wake of the Reitz video incident, the UFS wishes to establish an institute that will study and promote transformation on the campus as a microcosm of the much broader socio-political challenges facing South Africa. It is hoped that in due course the UFS and the institution will develop the expertise and experience to help other organisations and societies in transition.

The institute will work closely with the Transformation Cluster – one of six strategic academic clusters already created as part of the university’s long-term strategic plans.

Given the transformation climate in which it finds itself, the university recognises that the guidance, support and direct involvement of thought leaders and other specialists in the field of transformation are critical to the design and operation of the proposed institute. To this end, the university has established an advisory panel for the institute. The Advisory Panel will give guidance to the Executive Director (to be appointed) in helping with the conceptualisation, design, and development of the institute, and the compilation of its business plan.

Brian Gibson Issue Management facilitated the meeting and is also responsible for the reporting on the meeting. The International Institute for Development and Ethics (IIDE) co-hosted and provided the secretarial support for the meeting.

 


The members of the advisory panel:  

(Click here to read more about the Panel Members)

External panel members:

Dr Clint Le Bruyns, Senior Lecturer in Public Theology and Ethics at the University of Stellenbosch .

Dr Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane, Chief Executive Officer, Sentech Limited.

Dr Andries Odendaal works in the field of conflict transformation with international agencies such as the United Nations, DANIDA and GTZ.

Prof. Lungisile Ntsebeza, National Research Foundation (NRF) Research Chair in Land Reform and Democracy in South Africa in the Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town.

Mr Roger Crawford, Executive Director for Government Affairs and Policy South Africa, Johnson & Johnson.

Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria 2001 to 2007.

Ms Zandile Mbele, Director of Plessey (PTY) Ltd. and the Transformation Executive for Dimension Data.

Dr André Keet, Director: Transdisciplinary Programme at the University of Fort Hare in October 2008 and part-time Commissioner with the Commission for Gender Equality.


Dr Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela is an associate professor in the Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education Program in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University.

Dr Mpilo Pearl Sithole is a senior research specialist in the Democracy and Governance Research Programme at the Human Science Research Council.

Professor Steven Friedman, D.Litt. is Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Rhodes University and the University of Johannesburg.

Representatives from UFS:

Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Academic Operations at the University of the Free State, and currently Acting Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

Prof. Piet Erasmus, Interim Co-ordinator for the Cluster Transformation in Highly Diverse Societies.

Prof. Lucius Botes, Director of the Centre of Development Support and Programme Director of the Postgraduate Programme in Development Studies.

Prof. Philip Nel, Former Director of the Centre for Africa Studies at the UFS.
 

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