Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
15 July 2022 | Story Lacea Loader

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the lifting of the institution’s COVID-19 Regulations and Required Vaccination Policy with immediate effect.

“Since the declaration by the Government on 22 June 2022 that the COVID-19 regulations will be repealed, the UFS has conducted a risk assessment to determine the risk of exposure to staff and students. From the assessment, it was clear that the university’s COVID-19 infections are currently a low risk,” said Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

Factors that contributed to this low risk include the following:

  • No COVID-19 positive cases among UFS staff and students have been reported in the past month.
  • The high number of vaccinations among UFS stakeholders. In addition, the current national immunity level of the total South African population is high.
  • Certain faculties and postgraduate students are currently proceeding with hybrid/online learning, which minimises the risk of possible COVID-19 infections on the university’s three campuses.
  • In its correspondence of 23 June 2022, the UFS urged all staff and students to continue wearing masks should they have comorbidities and/or symptoms of illness, thus safeguarding other stakeholders.

“We believe that COVID-19 no longer poses an immediate threat to the safety of our staff and students, and that the pandemic is at a stage where they should take responsibility for their own safety. This can be mainly ascribed to the success of the implementation of the policy. Staff and students who still wish to wear masks are urged to do so at their own discretion. Those who have not yet been vaccinated against the virus and have no

known condition preventing them from doing so, are advised to get vaccinated for their own safety and protection,” said Prof Petersen.

The UFS COVID-19 Regulations and Required Vaccination Policy was approved by the University Council on 26 November 2021 and implemented on 6 December 2021. The university commenced restricting unvaccinated individuals from accessing its campuses as of 14 February 2022.

“If the national regulatory environment with respect to COVID-19 is changing to such an extent that the policy needs to be re-implemented, the university’s executive management will act accordingly, and hence the COVID-19 Regulations and Required Vaccination Policy remains a policy of the university as approved by the UFS Council on 26 November 2021.” said Prof Petersen.

 

Uplifting of the COVID-19 vaccination policy - mitigation strategies of the University of the Free State.

News Archive

UFS Language Policy Review
2015-08-30

Invitation to members of the UFS Convocation

Members of the Convocation are invited to attend a meeting where an opportunity will be given for submissions to be made:

Date: Wednesday 30 September 2015
Time: 17:30-19:30
Venue: CR Swart Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus

Members of the UFS Convocation are all permanent academic staff members - from lecturer to professor; all permanent support service staff, from Deputy Director to Vice-Chancellor and Rector - by virtue of their respective offices; and all students (current and former) who obtained a formal qualification at the university.

There are two options to members of the Convocation to participate in the review process:

  1. Attend the Convocation meeting on 30 September 2015 and make an oral submission of no more than 5 minutes; or
  2. If you prefer not to make your submission in public, submit it online by sending an email to language@ufs.ac.za by 30 September 2015.

The current Language Policy is available at http://www.ufs.ac.za/adhoc-pages/policy-documents/language-policy.

For background information on the review, go to: http://www.ufs.ac.za/language-policy

 

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