Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Gift of the Givers donates food packs to the UFS

11 July 2022 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Supplied

Gift of the Givers Donation to the UFS — Staff of the University of the Free State and the Gift of the Givers Foundation on the Bloemfontein Campus holding food packs as a donation to the No Student Hungry Programme.

“It is very hard for some students to make it through tertiary institutions, with most not only having to focus on studies but also having to worry about where their next meal will come from,” said Hlengiwe Nkwanyana, Community Liaison Officer of the Gift of the Givers Foundation.

She shared this when the foundation delivered food parcels on the University of the Free State (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus on 29 June 2022, as part of a partnership that started in 2020.

Nkwanyana said: “Some students at most tertiary institutions come from disadvantaged backgrounds and with the high unemployment rate, there is less support coming from families. The foundation is glad to assist, especially in alleviating poverty.”

The partnership started on the Qwaqwa Campus and has since expanded to all campuses. UFS students who successfully applied for support receive nutritional food parcels from the foundation on a monthly basis.

Annelize Visagie, Senior Officer in the Food Environment Office within the Division of Student Affairs, said the UFS has noted an ever-increasing number of students needing support. The donation from the foundation will see our students “having enough food for the third quarter”.

Visagie said: “This is part of the UFS Food Environment Strategy and the donation will be distributed to students on all three UFS campuses. We have a crisis on our hands; I call on all organisations and individuals who are able to support us to please do so.”

“Students go hungry and need our support, especially during the examination period. Without the support from foundations like the Gift of the Givers Foundation, the UFS would not have been able to sustain the support needed by the students,” said Visagie.

Nkwanyana said the Gift of the Givers Foundation “understands the plight of students, and the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us to support each other in times of need, irrespective of race or colour”.

Nkwanyana said: “The foundation is proud to partner with the University of the Free State, because we know all the donated parcels will go to deserving students. All students need to worry about now, is ensuring they pass their studies.”

News Archive

During 2011: Infrastructure at the UFS

2011-12-01

Video clips:

Health Sciences Building
Clinical Skills Centre
Economic Sciences and Lecture Hall Building
Teacher Education Building
Biotechnology Building

A publication in which the infrastructure developments at the UFS are portrayed, was published this year. This publication celebrates the enormous development projects undertaken.

Constructive change (part 1)	Constructive change (part 2)	Constructive change (part 3)

Much has been done this past year to improve the infrastructure of our Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses with several buildings being built, some renovated and improvements made. Attention was specifically given to the growing need for lecture hall facilities and office space.

Some of the developments on our Bloemfontein Campus include: a brand-new entrance in Nelson Mandela Drive; a Memorial for Women and a Botanical Garden; a building for teacher education opposite the UFS Sasol Library; a building for our Faculty of Health Sciences opposite the Francois Retief Building; a Clinical Skills Centre for Allied Health Professions (the first in the country); and a building for our Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences between the Flippie Groenewoud Building and Wynand Mouton Theatre.

On our Qwaqwa Campus a building for teacher education is being constructed and some of the laboratories were refurbished and upgraded. More student accommodation is also well underway. A village development of four housing units that will accommodate 1000 students will be constructed on our Bloemfontein Campus.
Renovations and extensions were also made to some of the existing buildings such as the Architecture Building, the Biotechnology Building, the Department of Chemistry, the Stef Coetzee Building, the foyer of the Odeion, the Wynand Mouton Theatre and the Callie Human Centre. A staff restaurant has also been established on the Bloemfontein Campus and the building of ‘Little Professors’, a nursery school, is well underway.
“A building not only signals value to the outside; it also builds value on the inside. That is why it is important to notice how space has been organised and allocated to enhance the building of a community and to give academics, students and communities a sense of belonging to the university,” says Prof. Jonathan Jansen, our Vice-Chancellor and Rector.

The funding for most of the projects was made possible with an infrastructural grant from the Department of Education and Training.

Back

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