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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

New building on UFS Qwaqwa Campus makes provision for research on environmental problems
2015-12-11

The new Geography and Physics Building on the Qwaqwa Campus

Student numbers in Geography and Physics on the Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State have escalated over the past five years. This has resulted in a need for more space for these two departments.

The acute and persistent shortage of lecturing space has been a major stumbling block on the campus, with only four of the Natural Sciences departments - Chemistry, Physics, Plant Sciences, and Zoology and Entomology – able to fit into the Natural Sciences building. To solve the problem, a separate facility for both the Geography and the Physics departments was built.

The new complex, which includes lecture rooms, laboratories, and offices, places the Department of Physics on the ground floor because the weight of some of the laboratory equipment. The Department of Geography is on the first floor.

The Department of Geography places strong emphasis on montane research. Research is being conducted on environmental problems in the Maluti-a-Phofung area. This research encompass in situ and ex situ conservation of paleontological resources, with the aim of setting up a GIS-based environmental management system, as well as the role of local cultures in promoting regional tourism.

The Department of Physics places emphasis on changing and improving community perceptions of electricity and electronics. The major part of the research has been in the field of solid-state physics, and, more specifically, on nanophosphors and other luminescent nanoparticles.

The building is in the north-eastern corner of the campus, opposite the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

The project was completed in 2015.

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