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UFS Job Shadows in Germany

20 July 2022 | Story Nonkululeko Nxumalo | Photo Supplied

UFS Academic staff job shadow in Germany — From the left: Helene van der Merwe (Lecturer: Sustainable Food Systems and Development), Herkulaas Combrink (Lecturer: Economic and Management Sciences, and Interim Co-director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures), Prof Dirk Fornahl (Research associate/researcher at Friedrich Schiller University Jena), Dr Karen Booysen (Lecturer: Business Management), Ketshepileone Matlhoko (Junior Lecturer: Sustainable Food Systems and Development), Gretha Lotz (Technopolis intern), Prof Johan van Niekerk (HOD: Sustainable Food Systems and Development), Prof Katinka de Wet (Associate Professor: Sociology, and Interim Co-director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures)

A group of academic staff and PhD students from the University of the Free State (UFS) recently visited the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU) in Germany for a three-week (27 May-16 June 2022) regional innovation training workshop and job shadowing. The opportunity was extended to the university’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures (ICDF) as well as the faculties of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and Economic and Management Sciences.

Building a regional innovation cluster for agriculture

With this training, the UFS, in collaboration with the FSU, the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), the Department of Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA), the Department of Agriculture (DOA), and other industry partners, aims to build a regional innovation cluster for agriculture in the South African perspective that drives innovation, technology advancement, and trade methodology among academic institutions, the government, and industries.

“The collaboration between the UFS and the FSU will have significant benefits for both universities in terms of knowledge sharing and learning. However, the biggest benefit of this project is to build a better community, facilitate innovative solutions for future challenges, and provide academic collaborations,” said Herkulaas Combrink, Interim Co-director of the ICDF.

Another regional innovation cluster in the agricultural sector is arranged within the Cape Winelands region and is centred on wine and liquor production. The projects between the UFS and the relevant stakeholders will grow other agricultural spheres such as textiles, livestock, and diverse crop irrigation.

“We are interested in a broad topic focused on climate change in the challenging context of developmental issues, inequalities, pressing issues of food insecurity, and demands/ opportunities brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Prof Katinka de Wet, Interim Co-director of the ICDF, highlighted.

According to Combrink, the UFS has been engaging online and in person with academic staff from FSU since 2021 to build the skills and capacity to drive this regional innovation.

“Academic institutions, government, and industry rely on these integral bridges to drive a sustainable digital future as well as to capacitate the next generation with the skills to increase the level of innovation required to remain relevant in the context of tomorrow,” he also said.

News Archive

UFS hosts sign language workshop to educate parents

2017-05-22

Back row; from left; John Keitsemore from
Bartimea School for the Deaf; Philip Cook,
the headmaster at De la Bat School for the
Deaf in Worcester; Jeannie Cook, De la Bat School
for the Deaf; front, from left; Marisa Vermeulen, mother
of two deaf children and teacher at Bartimea
School for the Deaf in Thaba Nchu; Marianne Kühn,
audiologist, and Susan Lombaard, acting Head of the
Department of South African Sign Language.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

“Ninety percent of deaf children are born into hearing families. When parents first receive the news, they are shocked, angry and confused,” says Susan Lombaard, Acting head of the Department of South African Sign Language at the University of the Free State (UFS).

The department hosted a workshop, “Early intervention options for the child with a hearing loss”, on Friday 12 May 2017 on the Bloemfontein Campus. “It is the first time a sign language workshop of this kind was hosted by the Department of South African Sign Language at the UFS,” says Lombaard, who facilitated the workshop. They hope to make it an annual event.

Parents of deaf children do not always know how they will communicate with their children or where the child must attend school. The workshop aimed to provide parents with the necessary information on different communication options and also touched on school placement.

Support group for parents established
A support group for parents was also established, the first of its kind in the province. It will provide much-needed support, information and guidance for parents of deaf children.

Some of the speakers at the workshop included Anri Esterhuizen, an audiologist; Marianne Kühn from the Carel du Toit Centre, Marisa Vermeulen, who is a mother of two deaf children, and Phillip Cook, the headmaster at De la Bat School for the Deaf in Worcester, in the Western Cape. Jeannie Cook, also a presenter, provided information on sign language acquisition of the small deaf child, which is done through creative play.

Professionals have responsibility
South African Sign Language is a language in its own right and is not international. “Sign language is a visual language with its own grammar and syntax different from spoken language,” Lombaard said.

There has been much controversy surrounding teaching deaf children to speak and teaching them to sign. “We as professionals have the responsibility to provide information on all options. This is to help the parent make informed decisions about communication and school placement.”

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