Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
20 January 2022 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Supplied
Keenan Carelse.
University of the Free State (UFS) Alumni may be based all around the world, but the United Kingdom (UK) Alumni Chapter aims to reconnect with all those members.

The UK Chapter is a hub of a developing UFS international programme. “We want to provide an opportunity for alumni to share their university experiences with wider audiences,” explains Carmenita Redcliffe Paul, Assistant Director: Alumni Relations and Business Development at the UFS.

Platform to celebrate successes

“The programme aims to provide a platform to alumni to celebrate their successes and provide a window to the landscape of the life and times of the university and the people who shaped it.”

“We also want to celebrate the diversity of our former students and the many touchpoints which unite them.”

Two key projects, Global Citizen and Voices from the Free State, came to life as a result of the collective collaboration of this chapter. The Global Citizen invites people in a series of “courageous conversations” to rethink their relationship with the world. Voices from the Free State is a series of personal podcast narratives by outstanding alumni wherein they reflect their experiences at the UFS. They tell their stories and explain how their university years shaped their future and paved the way to their respective successes.

Relevant association with the UFS

“Furthermore, they motivate why their ongoing association with the UFS is still relevant and important,” says Redcliffe Paul.

The UK Alumni Chapter is led by alumni Francois van Schalkwyk and Keenan Carelse and supported by Adrienne Hall.

Redcliffe Paul says Carelse and Van Schalkwyk have been instrumental in the Voices from the Free State initiative as they are strategically and operationally invested. They create and co-host the podcast series.

Van Schalkwyk is an entrepreneur and innovator consulting with clients globally. Carelse is employed in the healthcare sector in the UK.

News Archive

Call for campus review and participation into renaming and renewal of statues, signs, and symbols on UFS campuses
2016-08-25

 

The leadership of the University of the Free State (UFS) is issuing a Call for the renaming and renewal of statues, signs, and symbols on the three campuses to staff, students, and alumni.

In line with the founding statement and guidelines of the Naming Committee of Council, The Call will seek to retain the best representations of the history and identity of the UFS over more than a century, while committing to the transformation imperatives of our new democracy so that the totality of statues, signs, and symbols give credence to both the past and the future, all in line with the values of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

Submissions should be made to the
SSSC between 21 July 2016 and 31 August 2016.
Proposals can be delivered to the
office of the Director: Communication and
Brand Management at Room 49,
Main Building, Bloemfontein Campus, or
via email to sssc@ufs.ac.za.

The ‘Guiding Principles’ of the Naming Committee, approved by Council on 8 March 2013, are transformation, reconciliation, excellence, distinctiveness, leadership, comprehensiveness, balance and sensitivity. The Policy of the UFS on Naming and Renaming is available here: http://bit.ly/2aeTLUz; and the Remit of the Naming Committee of the UFS is available here: http://bit.ly/29NXESC.

The Call will give special attention to creative submissions from staff, students, and alumni, such as signs and symbols that reflect our entangled past and place rival memories in critical conversation. Whatever is proposed, our commitment to the Academic Project and the Human Project remain foundations on which inspirational proposals could be based. In the end, a campus that is richly diverse, inclusive, and just in its symbolic infrastructure, would give visible meaning to the university’s commitment to social justice and reconciliation.

All submissions should be made to the Statues, Signs, and Symbols Committee (SSSC) between 21 July 2016 and 31 August 2016. Proposals could be delivered in hard copy to the office of the Director: Communication and Brand Management at Room 49, Main Building, Bloemfontein Campus or via email to sssc@ufs.ac.za.

Proposals will be reviewed by the SSSC, which is a subcommittee of the Naming Committee.

Final proposals will be submitted to Council for consideration at its final meeting of the 2016 academic year. In other words, new statues, symbols and signs – those approved by Council – will be implemented from January 2017.

Submissions could include, but are not limited to, the following: the renaming of streets and buildings; the proposal of new statues and other symbols on campus; the renewal of artwork collections; the reconfiguration of existing statues and symbols; the introduction of memorial gardens; the instatement of new galleries, sculptures, and literary collections; the establishment of prominent academic chairs or annual academic lectures in the name of illustrious figures, etc. Particular attention should be given to new buildings in the process of being built, such as residences.

Finally, it is important that the views and recommendations of all staff, students, and alumni be considered in submissions and that every campus citizen, past and present, has a sense of being able to participate fully and freely in the process.

Released by: Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Tel: +27 51 401 3422/2707 or +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

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