Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
10 March 2022
|
Story Anthony Mthembu
|
Photo Unsplash
The No Student Hungry team gearing up to start distributing food parcels to the selected students.
The UFS is one of the many institutions of higher learning where food insecurity is an active issue. However, the
No Student Hungry Programme is one of the initiatives launched at the university to assist in fighting food insecurity at the institution.
The purpose of the programme
Since its inception in 2011, the initiative has assisted many students in acquiring a healthy meal. Additionally, the Food Environment Office also hands out food packages, so that students can continue to achieve academically. “We are trying to develop a healthy environment for students and make it easier for them to have a nice and healthy meal,” stated Annelize Visagie, who heads the Food Environment Office at the UFS. The Food Environment programme is spread out on all three campuses, each with its own facilitators. Furthermore, the programme mainly caters for students who are not funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) but who are excelling academically. The abovementioned students apply for assistance online, and a list is then drawn up of students who receive assistance for the year.
Alternative solutions to keep the initiative running
On the Bloemfontein Campus, the No Student Hungry Programme will be catering for 200 students in the 2022 academic year, assisting them with a daily nutritious meal. Additional food parcels are also handed out to provide further assistance. “We give food parcels to the students on the list every Tuesday and Thursday at the Thakaneng Bridge,” Visagie highlighted. However, she argues that catering for the student population through this programme can be a challenge, as the demand for assistance is growing rapidly and the ability to assist is limited. The programme relies on partnerships and sponsors to assist the student body. In fact, the coordinators of the programme currently have a memorandum of understanding with Tiger Brands according to which they deliver around 100 food parcels for distribution.
In addition, the coordinators have put in place alternative measures to ensure that they can provide more food to students. “The
Kovsie Act Office, in partnership with the
Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, has started a food garden where healthy and nutritious produce are grown, in order to add value to the distribution,” she indicated. Although the programme can only assist to a point, students who are in desperate need of assistance are never turned away. In fact, the
Social Support Unit at Thakaneng Bridge usually assists students with food vouchers for a maximum of four days.
A commitment to teaching healthy eating habits
The programme is not only committed to curbing food insecurity, but also to ensuring that students have a healthy and balanced diet. As such, a booklet is being issued by the
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics in collaboration with the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, which contains ways in which students can make a healthy meal using some of the ingredients offered in the food parcels.
“We want to teach students how to eat healthy in the cheapest way, because they don’t have a lot of money to buy expensive food products,” Visagie argued.
UFS welcomes the class of 2010
2010-01-13
 |
Pictured with Prof Jansen are, from the left: Christo Smal (B.Sc. Quantity Surveying student from Bloemfontein), Nicole Tarentaal (LL.B. student from Bloemfontein), Charmoné Swartz (LL.B. student from Kimberley) and Lizé de Witt (B.Sc. Quantity Surveying student from Bloemfontein).
Photo: Stephen Collett |
The University of the Free State (UFS) welcomed its first-time entering first-year students on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein this past weekend.
Addressing the new students and their parents at the ceremony, the Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof. Jonathan Jansen assured the new students and their parents that “they are at the right place”.
“We will not cut corners with your child’s education as we are serious about the quality of the education we provide,” he said to the parents. “We shall make sure that our students are distinguished among graduates from other universities – that they are leaders. Quality is not negotiable.”
Prof. Jansen also said the standards of admission at the UFS would be raised. “We need students of a higher academic standard,” he said.
“Our students will obtain a degree they will be proud of. We are going to put everything into their education and experience here at the UFS so that they can be the best in their field of study.”
He told the new students and their parents that they were safe at the UFS as no first-year student would be initiated anymore. He said that there were other ways to create self-respect and confidence in a young person without having to use initiation.
“It is not enough to have a degree,” he said. “We want to link your degree to thorough preparation for the workplace. Your degree must be accepted globally.”
Prof. Jansen further emphasised the importance of students to understand one another and to get along with one another – especially with those who speak a language different from their own and with a different skin colour than theirs.
“Our students must have respect for one another. This is a value that should be added to your qualification in order for you to be relevant in the workplace anywhere in the world.”
He said the university was busy with a programme to install computer points in all the residences. He also extolled the virtues of the UFS, citing excellence in sport, music, debating and other activities.
Prof. Jansen also reiterated the fact that the first group of 100 first-year students who would be sent overseas to study during the second semester would come from this class of 2010.
“The class of 2010 will change Kovsies. They will be the best students that have ever graduated,” he said.
Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
12 January 2010