Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Big names talk about state of media and publishing industry in SA

23 June 2022 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin

Ivor Price and Nelleke de Jager — Ivor Price (left) and Nelleke de Jager during the discussion session in the Senate Hall of the Centenary Building.

Click to view document Lees: Groot name praat oor stand van media- en uitgewerswese in SA

Ivor Price, seasoned journalist and media man, and Nèlleke de Jager, fiction publisher at Human & Rousseau, are two of the big names serving on the advisory panel of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French. On 27 May 2022, Price and De Jager presented a discussion on the state of the media and publishing industry in the country.

Students and lecturers from the department who attended the discussion had the privilege of witnessing the expertise and experience of the advisory panel first hand. The other two members of the advisory panel are Mariska van der Merwe, a teacher at the Meisieskool Oranje, and Wyno Simes, Curator of the National Afrikaans Literature Museum and Research Centre (NALN) in Bloemfontein. The University of the Free State (UFS) has introduced the concept of practice panels in its faculties and academic departments to provide practice-based expertise to students as well as advice to lecturers.

Two prestige bursaries were also presented to two postgraduate students. Lynthia Julius, author of the award-winning book Uit die Kroes, is the first recipient of the JC Steyn Prize, and Corné Richter received the Marius Jooste Prize from the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.

Important role of the media threatened

Price – who worked as a journalist at Die Burger and made a name for himself in media and television circles, and who is also the owner of the online news publication Food for Mzanzi – said “a democracy is nothing without the media”. He referred to some of the biggest news events in recent times where the media has played an important role in exposing crime and corruption in the highest circles of executive government.

Examples of this are the Gupta/state capture scandal, the Zuma corruption, as well as the asbestos fraud by Ace Magashule and the Free State government. “This says something about a country where people steal money to implement idleness,” Price said.

He also warned that things were not ‘going well’ with the media in SA and that the media – also internationally – are in danger. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the media will be with us for a long time. “The circulation figures of daily newspapers fell by about 40% of the total sales.” Sunday papers can, to some extent, keep their heads above water thanks to government advertisements. Price also believes that niche markets are the future.

Publishing industry changing in SA

In turn, Nelleke de Jager talked about the challenges that publishers must overcome today. “Educational publishers are publishing the largest number of outputs in SA,” she said. She also mentioned that retail publishers such as Penguin Random House and Pan Macmillan are changing the landscape for the better. “The South African publishing industry is changing, not waning,” said De Jager.

From the left Lynthia Julius; Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of Faculty of the Humanities and Corné Richter.
(Photo: Rulanzen Martin)

Book lovers will remember with great nostalgia that Leserskring/Leisure Books was the leader in terms of book sales a decade ago. “The closure of Leisure Books damaged the outputs and turnover of NB Publishers,” said De Jager.

De Jager also told students about the skills that are needed to survive in the industry. “It is important to master a variety of skills, such as writing and reading skills, project management, and editorial know-how.” She also jokingly said that anyone interested in the publishing industry should first work as a waiter, since it teaches one to be humble.

News Archive

Access meets quality in UFS-Varsity College partnership for law degree

2012-07-30

At the event were, from the left: Mr Frank Thompson, CEO of ADvTECH, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, and Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the UFS.
Photo: Johan Roux
30 July 2012

The University of the Free State (UFS) and Varsity College this week officially launched a partnership whereby the university’s Faculty of Law will offer a four-year Bachelor of Law qualification through the UFS School of Open Learning on eight Varsity College campuses nationwide. This new degree will be offered as early as 2013.

This is the fulfilment of a dream, said Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the university. He was one of the speakers at the event that was attended by staff members and management from the, Faculty of Law, the university’s South Campus, Varsity College and ADvTECH.

The UFS Faculty of Law is one of the oldest and most distinguished faculties of law in South Africa, and has a close association with several overseas universities which ensures that the institution is internationally recognised.

“I am very positive and enthusiastic about this new partnership. We want to make this an enriching experience for staff and students from both the university as well as Varsity College,” Prof. Henning said.

The CEO of ADvTECH, Mr Frank Thompson, said he is overjoyed about the project and its potential. Varsity College is a brand of the ADvTECH Group, a JSE listed company invested in human capital.

“This is a new beginning for Varsity College and the UFS. Learning together, the slogan for this project, is very appropriate. We are excited to add new students to the university and Varsity College’s line-up,” Mr Thompson said.

Varsity College is part of the Independent Institute of Education (IIE), the leading provider of private higher education in South Africa. According to Dr Felicity Coughlan, Director of the IIE, the partnership between the IIE and the university is an example of the potential that is inherent in public-private partnerships to increase the range of high quality options available to students.

Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, who also was one of the speakers at this event, said with this partnership, students will get the best of both worlds in accessing higher education.

The Faculty of Law will ensure that students obtain both a thorough grounding in legal theory, as well as a solid practical foundation, and Varsity College, through a strong commitment to innovative teaching and learning, will empower more students to become legal graduates of the highest calibre. Thus, the innovative partnership between the UFS and Varsity College will produce a Bachelor of Law degree that is highly sought after in the legal profession.

This partnership is the first of its kind, paving the way for increased collaboration between public and private tertiary institutions to best serve the education sector and the future of graduates.

“This is what is possible when two dynamic partners like the university and Varsity College come together,” Prof. Jansen said.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

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