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Ghana High Commissioner visits the UFS

24 June 2022 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath

“We are trying to close the divide between Ghanaian and South African higher education institutions. Many Ghanaians look to UK and US universities as their first option. However, the same level of education, at a far less rate, is offered at South African higher education institutions – and the University of the Free State in particular.”

These were some of the sentiments shared by His Excellency Mr Charles Asuako Owiredu, High Commissioner of the Republic of Ghana to South Africa, during his recent visit to the University of the Free State.

The High Commissioner, accompanied by the Deputy High Commissioner and Head of Protocol, was hosted by Prof Francis Petersen. After a successful meeting, the students and academics from the Ghanaian community were also engaged. “The Vice-Chancellor was full of praise for the Ghanaian students and their performance at the UFS,” said the High Commissioner.

Prof Chitja Twala, Vice-Dean in the Faculty of the Humanities, highlighted the longstanding relationship that the UFS has with the University of Ghana. “We have a good relationship with the Department of History at the University of Ghana, and we are looking forward to collaboration with the institution,” added Prof Twala.

The High Commissioner felt strongly about cementing the relationships that already exist between the UFS and universities in Ghana and will lobby for education to be included in the master framework used as an operational document between the two countries. Faculty exchanges between the UFS and Ghanaian universities were also encouraged by the High Commissioner.

The High Commissioner encouraged Ghanaian students and academics at the UFS to suggest ways to deepen the relationship between the UFS and Ghanaian institutions.

Dr Prince Sarpong, Senior Lecturer in the School for Financial Planning Law at the UFS, proposed a collaboration between the UFS and Ghanaian institutions in the field of financial planning, whereby there could be an opportunity to reach out and expand the practice of financial planning to institutions in Ghana. The High Commissioner was eager to know more about financial planning and its location within law.

Ghanaian students who attended the meeting shared their experiences and perspectives about the UFS and indicated that an excellent relationship exists with project supervisors while pursuing their studies remotely.

According to Ghanaian students based on the UFS campuses, the UFS is doing great work by engaging students from Ghana in the UFS programme. However, students indicated that challenges were experienced with the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

Dr Cornelius Hagenmeier, Director of the Office for International Affairs at the UFS, assured students that the aspect of SAQA is important and will be looked into, as it relates to the recruitment of students.

The High Commissioner also suggested that the Ghana Accreditation Board engage with SAQA.

A UFS delegation will be visiting Ghana in October to explore the opportunities in agriculture, entrepreneurship, and the Business School.

News Archive

IRSJ marks five years of championing social justice

2016-08-12

Description: IRSJ 5 year Tags: IRSJ 5 year

Members of the Advisory Board of the IRSJ,
Prof Michalinos Zembylas (Open University
of Cyprus), Prof Shirley Anne Tate (Leeds
University, England), and Prof Relebohile
Moletsane (University of KwaZulu-Natal),
listen to a speaker on the programme.
Photo: Lihlumelo Toyana

The Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ) marked its fifth anniversary with a function on 27 July 2016 in the Reitz Hall of the Centenary Complex on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS). Earlier that day, the Advisory Board of the IRSJ, chaired by Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, hosted their annual meeting.

A new book was also launched, co-authored by JC van der Merwe, Deputy-Director at the IRSJ and Dionne van Reenen, researcher and PhD candidate at the IRSJ. It is entitled Transformation and Legitimation in Post-apartheid Universities: Reading Discourses from ‘Reitz’. The function featured not only reflections on the IRSJ, but a four-member panel discussion of the book and higher education in 2016.

The IRSJ came into being officially at the UFS in January 2011. Prof André Keet, Director of the IRSJ, said: “With a flexibility and trust not easily found in the higher education sector, the university management gave us the latitude and support to fashion an outfit that responds to social life within and outside the borders of the university, locally and globally.”

The IRSJ has not hesitated to be bold and
courageous in reforming ... traditional policies."

Prof Jansen went on to mention three things he finds appealing about the IRSJ: “Thanks to Prof Keet and his team’s vision and understanding of how important it is for students to have a space in which they can learn how to be, learn how to think, and learn how to contribute, the IRSJ has become a place where students can learn about things that they might not learn in the classroom. Second, it created, for the first time, a space where members of the LGBTIQ community could gather in one place. And third, it speaks to the intellectual life of the university, as evidenced by the research and publications produced over the past few years.”

Prof Jansen added: “The IRSJ will only be successful to the extent that we have safe spaces, courageous spaces, in which not only black students talk to themselves, but where black and white students talk together about their difficulties. If you’re entangled, you can’t get out of [that] unless you speak to the other person.”

Prof Michalinos Zembylas of the Open University of Cyprus and member of the Advisory Board, said of the IRSJ: “The works produced by the institute in this short time have been valuable to this community and beyond, because they recognise the complexities of education, ... while pushing the boundaries of how to translate theoretical discussions into practical, everyday conditions. ... For example, the IRSJ has not hesitated to be bold and courageous in reforming some traditional policies in this university—remnants of an ambivalent past that reproduced inequality and disadvantage.

In reflecting on how the IRSJ came into being during her opening remarks, Dr Lis Lange, Vice-Rector: Academic at the UFS, said that it has always been “dedicated to transformation.” She added that it “gathered the energy and creativity of some of our most promising student leaders.” She concluded: “For me, the greatest success of the Institute, besides publications and local and international networks, is the fact that something that started in the margins is being asked today to come closer to the centre, to play a larger role in the structural transformation of the university.”

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