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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

Bullying in schools discussed at inaugural lecture
2005-05-24

Prof Corene de Wet, from the Department of Comparative Education and Education Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), will deliver her inaugural lecture on Wednesday 1 June 2005 at 19:00 in the CR Swart Auditorium on campus.  

The topic of the lecture is Bullying in schools:  Everyone’s problem.

Prof de Wet studied at the Universities of Potchefstroom and the Free State. Her career began in 1975 as a teacher at the Ermelo High School.  After a period as a History and Afrikaans teacher at various secondary schools in the Free State, she was appointed as senior lecturer at the UFS in 1992, and thereafter as Associate Professor (2002) and Professor (July 2004).

In her academic career of 14 years, Prof de Wet has authored/co-authored 42 publications, of which 32 articles have been published in accredited scientific journals. She has presented five international and 12 national conference papers. She was honoured for academic excellence (1984, UFS) and research excellence (2004, UFS). Her research focuses on crime in education, as well as cultural diversity as an important educational issue. So far 17 M Ed and two Ph D students graduated under her supervision.

Prof de Wet is assistant editor of Acta Academica and SA-eDUC Electronic Journal. She is a member of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, the Education Association of South Africa, the Southern African Comparative and History of Education Society and the International Cultural Research Network.

For any enquiries, please contact Ms Joan Nel at (051) 401-9301.

MEDIA RELEASE

Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel:  (051) 401-2584
   Cell:  083 645 2454
   E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za

24 May 2005
 

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