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19 December 2022 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Supplied
Cydonia Oblonga
Growing up, Tshepiso Letaoana, an MSc student and facilitator in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences never imagined that one day she would be conducting research on a fruit she grew up playing with.

In English, it is called quince, but you probably grew up calling it kwepere. Does this ring a bell? Kwepere – scientific name Cydonia oblonga – is a bright yellow shrub fruit that looks like a cross between an apple and a pear. When you look past its rather unappealing characteristics, such as being nearly inedible when raw, quince is delightfully surprising. Its flavour is delicately sweet when stewed, and its aroma is reminiscent of vanilla and oranges. When cooked, the fruit’s pale-yellow colour changes to a lovely rose. It preserves a distinctive aromatic smell and has a slightly sour taste when ripe; it is often used in jams, marmalades, and alcoholic beverages, to mention a few. Although found in many backyards in Qwaqwa and around the country, it is an ancient fruit native to various parts of Asia and the Mediterranean.

An aroma that can be sensed from a mile away

Growing up, Tshepiso Letaoana, an MSc student and facilitator in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences never imagined that one day she would be conducting research on a fruit she grew up playing with. Inspired by Prof Anofi Ashafa, Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, who observed that during each fruiting season quince would either end up rotting while hanging on the trees or dropping to the ground, rendering it unusable and inedible, Letaoana embarked on research to learn more about the fruit for her honours research.

“As a young girl, our neighbour had a garden full of quince trees, and I always looked forward to harvest season because the smell and taste were so exhilarating. I had no idea that it had so many benefits, I was just eating it for the delicacy experience. When I embarked on my research journey, I got to learn that it contains good antioxidant and antidiabetic properties. Conducting this research has opened me up to the history of the folklore and the use of the plant in the olden days.”

Giving quince a chance to reach fruit market shelves

Currently, on her master’s journey, she has uncovered that the main culprit causing the fruit to rot are pathogens that attack and lead to deterioration as well as spoilage of the fruit. Using the plants’ own parts, she aims to formulate antifungals that will mitigate or eradicate these pathogens attacking the fruit, so that it will have a chance to reach the shelves in fruit markets.

“I hope I will also get the opportunity to store my research findings in the university’s archives so that the information can be available to other communities and can be utilised by future generations. We also hope for a possible development of Cydonia oblonga extracts into antimicrobial spraying agents that can be used by supermarkets. This research will help educate the community of Maluti-a-Phofung about cost-effective methods they can use to overcome the challenges they face in dealing with the pathogens and taking care of their kwepere as well as other fruit-bearing trees. With further research, this could also lead to the creation of job opportunities should one pursue the cultivation of these trees in order to supply the fruits to local supermarkets.”

News Archive

Inaugural lecture: Prof. Annette Wilkinson
2008-04-16

A strong plea for a pursuit of “scholarship” in higher education

Prof. Annette Wilkinson of the Centre for Higher Education Studies and Development in the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS) made as strong plea for a pursuit of “scholarship” in higher education.

She said in her inaugural lecture that higher education has to deal with changes and demands that necessitate innovative approaches and creative thinking when it concerns effective teaching and learning in a challenging and demanding higher education environment. She referred to a recent research report prepared for the Council for Higher Education (CHE) which spells out the alarming situation regarding attrition rates and graduation output in South African higher education and emphasises factors leading to the situation. These factors include socio-economic conditions and shortcomings in the school and the subsequent under preparedness of a very large proportion of the current student population. However, what is regarded as one of the key factors within the sector’s control is the implementation of strategies for improving graduate output.

She said: “The CHE report expresses concern about academics’ adherence to traditional teaching practices at institutions, which have not changed significantly to make provision for the dramatic increase in diversity since the 1980s.

“Raising the profile of teaching and learning in terms of accountability, recognition and scholarship is essential for successful capacity-building,” she said. “The notion of scholarship, however, brings to the minds of many academics the burden of ‘publish or perish’. In many instances, the pressures to be research-active are draining the value put on teaching. Institutions demand that staff produce research outputs in order to qualify for any of the so-called three Rs – resources, rewards and recognition.

“These have been abundant for research, but scarce when it comes to teaching – with the status of the latter just not on the same level as that of research. From within their demanding teaching environments many lecturers just feel they do not have the time to spend on research because of heavy workloads, that their efforts are under-valued and that they have to strive on the basis of intrinsic rewards.”

She said: “It is an unfortunate situation that educational expertise, in particular on disciplinary level, is not valued, even though in most courses, as in the Programme in Higher Education Studies at the UFS, all applications, whether in assignments, projects or learning material design, are directly applied to the disciplinary context. We work in a challenging environment where the important task of preparing students for tomorrow requires advanced disciplinary together with pedagogical knowledge.”

Prof. Wilkinson argued that a pursuit of the scholarship of teaching and learning holds the potential of not only improving teaching and learning and consequently success rates of students, but also of raising the status of teaching and recognising the immense inputs of lecturers who excel in a very demanding environment. She emphasised that not all teaching staff will progress to the scholarship level or are interested in such an endeavour. She therefore suggested a model in which performance in the area of teaching and learning can be recognised, rewarded and equally valued on three distinct levels, namely the levels of excellence, expertise and scholarship. An important feature of the model is that staff in managerial, administrative and support posts can also be rewarded for their contributions on the different levels for all teaching related work.

Prof. Wilkinson also emphasised the responsibility or rather, accountability, of institutions as a whole, as well as individual staff members, in providing an environment and infrastructure where students can develop to their full potential. She said that in this environment the development of the proficiency of staff members towards the levels of excellence, expertise and scholarship must be regarded as a priority.

“If we want to improve students’ success rates the institution should not be satisfied with the involvement in professional development opportunities by a small minority, but should set it as a requirement for all teaching staff, in particular on entry into the profession and for promotion purposes. An innovative approach towards a system of continuous professional development, valued and sought after, should be considered and built into the institutional performance management system.”

As an example of what can be achieved, Prof. Wilkinson highlighted the work of one of the most successful student support programmes at the UFS, namely the Career Preparation Programme (CPP), implemented fourteen years ago, bringing opportunities to thousands of students without matric exemption. The programme is characterised by dedicated staff, a challenging resource-based approach and foundational courses addressing various forms of under preparedness. Since 1993 3 422 students gained entry into UFS degree programmes after successfully completing the CPP; since 1996 1 014 of these students obtained their degrees, 95 got their honours degrees, 18 their master’s degrees and six successfully completed their studies as medical doctors.

Prof. Wilkinson said: “I believe we have the structures and the potential to become a leading teaching-learning university and region, where excellence, expertise and scholarship are recognised, honoured and rewarded.”

 

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