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09 February 2022 | Story Lacea Loader

The University of the Free State UFS) is aware of media reports on 8 and 9 February 2022 about challenges that students are facing related to off-campus accommodation and in particular an incident that took place on the Bloemfontein Campus in the early hours of 8 February 2022 when a group of students arrived late evening at Protection Services and requested emergency accommodation.

It is untrue that the university did not provide emergency accommodation to the group of students, and we wish to confirm that accommodation was indeed offered in two on-campus residences. However, the offer to provide such accommodation was not taken up by the Bloemfontein Campus Student Representative Council (CSRC) on behalf of the group. During Tuesday morning, university staff managed to obtain accommodation for the group in an off-campus emergency accommodation facility, to which they were taken by shuttle.

Several measures are in place to ensure the successful management of the accommodation process in consultation with and in agreement with various stakeholders. When the need arises, the university arranges emergency off-campus accommodation for students on all three campuses. Where a student cannot afford to pay for emergency accommodation, the university has measures in place, which include the provision of daily transport in the form of a shuttle service to the emergency accommodation and back to the campus – specifically during the registration period.

In addition, an Emergency Accommodation Committee, on which the CSRC sits, meets weekly. The CSRC is part of the committee’s decisions to accommodate the needs of students related to emergency accommodation.

News Archive

Prof. Willem Boshoff joins Department of Fine Arts
2012-10-05

Prof. Willem Boshoff

Prof. Willem Boshoff, one of South Africa’s most established artists, has joined the Department of Fine Arts as a mentor for postgraduate students. Prof. Boshoff, whose work has been shown extensively in South Africa and internationally, will serve as mentor and resident artist in the department.

Prof. Boshoff made his mark at the university in 2011 when his Thinking Stone sculpture, one of sixteen artworks commissioned by the Sculpture-on-Campus project, was installed near the Main Building. The "Black Belfast " granite stone, situated next to the H vd Merwe Scholtz Hall, weighs approximately 20 ton and, to date,is the largest of the artworks funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust fund.

Mr Ben Botma, Head of the Department of Fine Arts, says Prof. Boshoff, who is based in Gauteng, will work on the Bloemfontein Campus for certain months of the year. “As an artist he is extremely productive and has an impressive international exhibition programme. As a result he has a good overview of what happens in the most important museums and contemporary galleries. This information and insight can be shared with students with great success.”

Mr Botma says although the mentorship is aimed at postgraduate students, Prof. Boshoff’s presence and obsessive work habits will also motivate and inspire undergraduate students. “Willem is very popular as external examiner and moderator at other universities and he has a good perspective of what happens at the major universities”.
 

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