Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
09 February 2022 | Story Lacea Loader

After careful consideration and in consultation with various stakeholders, the management of the University of the Free State (UFS) today decided that the online registration period will be extended by one week until Friday 18 February 2022.

In line with this decision, classes will commence on Monday 21 February 2022, to give students enough time to register and prepare for their academic activities.

The university’s decision to extend the online registration period derives, among others, from logistical and external factors that contributed to students only being able to register from the week of 7 February 2022.

Channels available for students to contact the university during the registration period:

► Central contact centre: +27 51 401 9111 (if you want to speak to one of our agents)

Central contact centre booklet
► WhatsApp chatbot: +27 87 240 6370 (if students want to conduct an online chat conversation via text messages)

Registration assistance: System-based online registration assistance functionality through the UFS website

Comprehensive registration information is available at:   www.ufs.ac.za/register

Visit https://www.ufs.mobi/register and follow the checklist #StepbyStep 2022 online registration.

News Archive

Largest group on African continent introduced to Sign Language
2016-07-05

Description: z UFS101 SASL Tags: z UFS101 SASL

The introduction of basic Sign Language
as part of the UFS101 course was a great
success. From left are Susan Lombaard,
Annemarie le Roux, Tshisikhawe Dzivhani
(all from the Department of South African
Sign Language), and Lauren Oosthuizen
(UFS101).

Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

As a result of a new initiative at the University of the Free State (UFS), the largest group of students on the African continent took part in a first-year seminar which included Sign Language.

A total of 5400 students on the Bloemfontein Campus and 1000 on Qwaqwa Campus were taught basic Sign Language by Susan Lombaard, Acting Head of the Department of South African Sign Language, and her team members, Tshisikhawe Dzivhani, Annemarie le Roux, and Nicolene de Klerk.

It forms part of the UFS101 module presented to all first-year students. The initiative, begun in the first semester of 2016, will form part of UFS101 in future and was met with an overwhelmingly positive response.

Three segments of course

Sign Language was taught in three segments and positioned as large-class learning experiences in the Callie Human Centre (Bloemfontein Campus) and the Nelson Mandela Hall (Qwaqwa Campus). Students were taught about deaf culture, Sign Language theory, as well as how to sign their names, exchange pleasantries, and have a basic conversation.

A valuable skill to have

“It (the Sign Language experience) was very interesting and helpful,” said one of the students. “It is important to have the ability to communicate with all sorts of people, and to be able to help them in a crisis”. According to another, it sparked an interest in Sign Language. “It is a skill I will continue to use and try to learn more from it,” said a third.

Lombaard – in collaboration with the UFS101 team – will be presenting a paper related to this achievement at the DeafNet Africa Conference in Johannesburg, from 26 to 30 September 2016.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept