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17 February 2022 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Sonia Small (Kaleidoscope Studios)
Dr Engela van Staden
Dr Engela van Staden, Vice Rector: Academic
The University of the Free State (UFS) has finalised the first part of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) Institutional Audit (IA), submitting its Institutional Self-Evaluation Report (SER) and Portfolio of Evidence (PoE) to the higher education quality assurance body. 

According to Dr Engela van Staden, Vice-Rector: Academic, the second part of the institutional audit will involve the participation of relevant stakeholders in a site visit to the institution. During the visit, scheduled between 9 and 13 May 2022, an external panel of experts will systematically assess the submitted SER and requisite documents by asking inquisitive questions to interviewees who will be participating in this process.  

“The focus will be on the quality of programme offerings with a view to improving student success in all spheres of the student walk – from registration to graduation. To this end, the university’s Integrated Quality Management Framework (IQMF) will be assessed in order to provide evidence that quality assurance is ingrained in the core functions of the UFS, i.e., student success; quality of teaching and research; and engaged scholarship.”

Dr Van Staden says by re-introducing the SER, the university will embark on a stakeholder engagement plan, engaging with staff in faculties, service units, directorates, centres, departments, or schools, to keep them informed and prepared for a productive contribution to the Institutional Audit process. 

- The CHE is an independent statutory body established in terms of the provisions of the Higher Education Act No. 101 of 1997, as amended. It advises the Minister responsible for Higher Education and Training and is the national authority for quality assurance and promotion in higher education.

News Archive

Marieka Gryzenhout receives NRF-NSTF Award
2013-07-03

 

Dr Gryzenhout
Photo: Sonia Small
03 July 2013

“The award serves to prove that my type of research is truly relevant.” These are the words of Dr Marieka Gryzenhout of the Department of Plant Sciences at the UFS, who received the T W Kambule NRF-NSTF Award as emerging researcher in June 2013.

The award from the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) gives recognition to her outstanding contribution to science, engineering, technology and innovation (SETI) in the country.

Dr Gryzenhout is also part of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholar Programme.

“It was an honour to be chosen as a finalist, but to even win it? Die award indicates the importance of fungi and plant pathogens, and their presence in various biological systems and that it is important to identify and categorise significant plant pathogens and fungi to enable easier access for users of these names.”

Dr Gryzenhout was in the US on the evening of the awards ceremony, attending a workshop on the identification and research of another fungus group, Fusarium. “This group is extremely important, since it includes important plant pathogens, producers of toxins in food and feed, as well as animal and human pathogens, and it also plays important ecological roles.”

She attended the Kansas State University in Kansas and paid a visit to the Bacterial Foodborne Pathogens and Mycology Unit of the US Department of Agriculture in Illinois.

Dr Gryzenhout is also a finalist in the Women in Science Awards hosted by the Department of Science and Technology. The winner will be announced in August 2013. Prof Maryke Labuschagne and Rose Lekhooa are also nominees.

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