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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

Meet our Council: A teacher with a passion for changing lives

2016-12-19

Henry Dumisani Madlala

William Arthur Ward once said: “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

However, a teacher can only be great and inspire when teaching is a passion and a calling.

This is exactly the case with Henry Dumisani Madlala, Councillor of the University of the Free State. Mr Madlala is the principal of New Horizon College, a private school in Harrismith.

High educational standards and quality teaching
“New Horizon College is an independent, non-racial educational institution striving to maintain high educational standards and making quality education accessible to all. We have attained a 100% matric pass rate each year in the past six years since I became headmaster."

"My recipe is simple: teachers must teach and learners must learn.”

Mr Madlala was born and bred in KwaZulu-Natal and matriculated from Amazulu High School. Afterwards, he completed a BSc degree in Mathematics and Physics at the University of the North’s Qwaqwa Campus.

Delegate, govern, and trust
He says: “There are three key management principles which I follow as principal: delegate, govern, and trust. I give responsibilities to people, I make sure that they know what is expected of them, and in the end I trust them to carry out their responsibilities.”

His career as teacher and principal has been full of highlights on which he looks back with satisfaction.

Proud to plough back into the university
Madlala has been serving on the UFS Council since 2010 and has been part of Kovsie Alumni’s executive management since 2011. He is proud to plough back into the university in this manner.

“To me, being a Kovsie alumnus means pride, respect, discipline, and loyalty. Once a Kovsie, always a Kovsie!”

For this reason, Madlala believes that the UFS will play a major role in the country and in higher education for a long time to come.

“The UFS has been in existence for more than a hundred years and will no doubt survive for another hundred years or longer. We are indeed one of the leading universities in the country when it comes to transformation and academic excellence. The survival of the UFS is not a dream, but a reality.”

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