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29 July 2022 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons
UFS Traditional Medicine
Recardia Schoeman, Scientific Officer in the Department of Pharmacology, gave Prof Paul Waako, Dr Samuel Baker Obakiro, and Dr Richard Oriko Owor from the Busitema University a tour of the department and its laboratories.

Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa, Director of Pharmacology at the University of the Free State (UFS), played host to academics from the Busitema University in Uganda for benchmarking on traditional medicine and to establish collaboration between the two institutions.

Prof Paul Waako, Vice-Chancellor of the Busitema University – who was part of the visiting party – and Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, signed a collaboration agreement that enables the two institutions to work together and to get involved in the exchange of expertise as part of the collaboration.

Dr Samuel Baker Obakiro, Lecturer of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Head of the Department of Pharmacology, and Dr Richard  Oriko Owor, a natural products chemist, accompanied Prof Waako on the visit to the UFS from 18 to 21 July, during which they undertook tours of various departments and laboratories, including Pharmacology, Virology, Chemistry, Genetics, Physics, Microbiology, and others. They also visited FARMOVS.

 

Establishing collaboration

Uganda – through their Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation – has a national drive to ensure that science contributes to socio-economic development through their major national agenda, which promotes local production, reduces importation, and increases exportation of goods. Dr Monica Musenero Masanza, Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, wants to ensure that the capacity of Ugandan scientists to conduct applied research will promote national development and reduce poverty.

Prof Waako said they came to the UFS to establish collaboration, as universities have an obligation to ensure that science improves the socio-economic situation in Africa. They would like to work with the UFS to ensure that science strengthens science in order to serve the people.

“Currently, one of the biggest challenges is the local manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, and that is why we came to the Department of Pharmacology. We need to come together as African universities and use all the existing capacities to transform the lives of our people.”

“African traditional medicine has a lot to offer, and a lot of research has been done, but we have not been able to take it to the level of final commercialisable products. This is the reason of us coming here, we want to create that link to ensure that the science – which has already been identified and established – is able to move to product production,” says Prof Waako.

 

At the right place

They decided to visit the UFS after meeting Prof Matsabisa during his visit to their country’s universities as part of the WHO team.

According to Dr Obakiro, when walking down the corridors of the department, they can see that they are in the right place. “We are also looking at mentorship, as our university is still very young. I am happy and privileged to be here. We cannot succeed on our journey if we do not stand on your shoulders.”

Dr Obakiro said they are also looking at how to set up partnerships between academia and industry, as well as collaboration between the different academic departments, such as pharmacology, chemistry, microbiology, and virology, and how these collaborative initiatives can be effective and efficient to drive their agenda.

In welcoming the colleagues from West Africa, Prof Matsabisa said, “Let’s find a way to crawl together and eventually run together. If you want to move into drug discovery and development, no single scientist can do it alone, it is a multidisciplinary approach. It is a team effort with a shared vision. We have some experience that we can share with you, but we are not perfect, and I think we can learn together.”

News Archive

MBA Programme - Question And Answer Sheet - 27 May 2004
2004-05-27

1. WHAT MUST THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE (UFS) DO TO GET FULL ACCREDITATION FOR THE MBA PROGRAMMES?

According to the Council on Higher Education’s (CHE) evaluation, the three MBA programmes of the UFS clearly and significantly contribute to students’ knowledge and skills, are relevant for the workplace, are appropriately resourced and have an appropriate internal and external programme environment. These programmes are the MBA General, the MBA in Health Care Management and the MBA in Entrepreneurship.

What the Council on Higher Education did find, was a few technical and administrative issues that need to be addressed.

This is why the three MBA programmes of the UFS received conditional accreditation – which in itself is a major achievement for the UFS’s School of Management, which was only four years old at the time of the evaluation.

The following breakdown gives one a sense of the mostly administrative nature of the conditions that have to be met before full accreditation is granted by the CHE:

a. A formal forum of stakeholders: The UFS is required to establish a more structured, inclusive process of review of its MBA programmes. This is an administrative formality already in process.

b. A work allocation model: According to the CHE this is required to regulate the workload of the teaching staff, particularly as student numbers grow, rather than via standard management processes as currently done.

c. Contractual agreements with part-time staff: The UFS is required to enter into formal agreements with part-time and contractual staff as all agreements are currently done on an informal and claim-basis. This is an administrative formality already in process.

d. A formal curriculum committee: According to the CHE, the School of Management had realised the need for a structure – other than the current Faculty Board - where all MBA lecturers can deliberate on the MBA programmes, and serve as a channel for faculty input, consultation and decision-making.

e. A system of external moderators: This need was already identified by the UFS and the system is to be implemented as early as July 2004.

f. A compulsory research component: The UFS is required to introduce a research component which will include the development of research skills for the business environment. The UFS management identified this need and has approved such a component - it is to take effect from January 2005. This is an insufficient element lacking in virtually all MBA programmes in South Africa.

g. Support programmes for learners having problems with numeracy: The UFS identified this as a need for academic support among some learners and has already developed such a programme which will be implemented from January 2005.

The majority of these conditions have been satisfied already and few remaining steps will take effect soon. It is for this reason that the UFS is confident that its three MBA programmes will soon receive full accreditation.

2. WHAT ACCREDITATION DOES THE UFS HAVE FOR ITS MBA PROGRAMME?

The UFS’s School of Management received conditional accreditation for its three MBA programmes.

Two levels of accreditation are awarded to tertiary institutions for their MBA programmes, namely full accreditation and conditional accreditation. When a programme does not comply with the minimum requirements regarding a small number of criteria, conditional accreditation is given. This can be rectified during the short or medium term.

3. IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE ACADEMIC CORE OF THE UFS’s MBA PROGRAMMES?

No. The UFS is proud of its three MBA programmes’ reputation in the market and the positive feedback it receives from graduandi and their employers.

The MBA programmes of the UFS meet most of the minimum requirements of the evaluation process.

In particular, the key element of ‘teaching and learning’, which relates to the curriculum and content of the MBA programmes, is beyond question. In other words, the core of what is being taught in our MBA programmes is sound.

4. IS THE UFS’s MBA A WORTHWHILE QUALIFICATION?

Yes. Earlier this year, the School of Management – young as it is - was rated by employers as the best smaller business school in South Africa. This was based on a survey conducted by the Professional Management Review and reported in the Sunday Times Business Times, of 25 January 2004.

The UFS is committed to maintaining these high standards of quality, not only through compliance with the requirements of the CHE, but also through implementing its own quality assurance measures.

Another way in which we benchmark the quality of our MBA programmes is through the partnerships we have formed with institutions such as the DePaul University in Chicago and Kansas State University, both in the US, as well as the Robert Schuman University in France.

For this reason the UFS appreciates and supports the work of the CHE and welcomes its specific findings regarding the three MBA programmes.

It is understandable that the MBA review has caused some nervousness – not least among current MBA students throughout the country.

However, one principle that the UFS management is committed to is this: preparing all our students for a world of challenge and change. Without any doubt the MBA programme of the UFS is a solid preparation.

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