Latest News Archive

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

Fighting Food Insecurity at the University of the Free State

10 March 2022 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Unsplash

Food security — 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.

News Archive

UFS Law students take on the world

2007-03-25

Back, from left: Prof. Elizabeth Snyman-Van Deventer (Associate Professor at the Department of Mercantile Law, UFS), Lucien Companie, Dee Leboela, Sunette Visser and Mr Jaco Deacon (Lecturer at the Department of Mercantile Law, UFS). Front, from left: Mr Van Aswegen (Naudes Attorneys), Prof Rita-Marie Jansen (Associate Professor at the Department of Private Law, UFS), J.C. Smith and Vicky Olivier.

Photo: Stephen Collett

A team of eight students from the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) will compete in an international arbitration competition in Vienna, Austria, from 30 March to 5 April 2007.

The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is an annual competition organised by the Institute of International Commercial Law at the Pace University School of Law in New York, USA. The goal of the competition is to foster the study of international commercial law and to train students in methods of alternative dispute resolution.

Students will be judged on two crucial phases: the preparation of memoranda for the claimant and respondent, and the presentation of oral arguments before an arbitral tribunal. “The Moot teaches the basic framework of international arbitration and the application of the uniform sales law to all participating students during the preparation of the memoranda and the oral arguments,” says one of the team members, Dee Leboela, who also took part in last year’s competition.

“This competition definitely prepares students for the legal practice in all facets, whether as advocate, legislator or other areas,” added Deman Smit, one of the team members who also took part last year.

This competition brings together students from a range of legal systems and cultures from all over the world to learn from the process and from each other. “This encourages the development of social competence, and lifelong skills that are needed in our profession, of which social relations play an important role,” says Leboela.

In its maiden participation last year the UFS did not disappoint, with the highest score of 49 out of 50 and the lowest being 38 out of 50. This year the UFS will compete with 178 universities from 51 countries. “With the right strategy, which involves selecting the students on academic merit and excellent advocacy skills, I believe we would make it to the top 32,” says Leboela with confidence.

The UFS team is Leboela, Smit, Lucien Companie, Vicky Olivier, Sunette Visser, Qaqamba Vellem, Hanno Bekker and Lucy Nthotso.

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