Latest News Archive

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

International Student Welcome Function – Welcome to Mzansi

30 March 2022 | Story Bulelwa Moikwatlhai | Photo Supplied

International office — An international celebration. The Office for International Affairs hosted more than a hundred local and international students at the 2022 ‘Welcome to Mzansi’ event, integrating international students to life at the UFS.

On 18 March 2022, the Internationalisation at Home (I@H) portfolio in the Office for International Affairs at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted its annual first-year international student welcome function themed ‘Welcome to Mzansi’ at the RAG farm. The function hosted more than one hundred local and international students who are part of the I@H integration initiative – the Umoja Buddy Programme. UFS students from the Arts and Culture division in Student Affairs set the tone for the evening with a drama presentation articulating a student’s first day in the UFS community, in Bloemfontein, and its surroundings. The drama showcased the diverse student community represented at the UFS.

A welcome video from the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Francis Petersen, was shared with the students, highlighting how the past two years of the pandemic have equipped the students with key skills that they will use in the future. “I believe that the lessons you have learned will help you in the future, I know you will make an impact in your field. As a residential university, we welcome our students and staff back on campus in 2022 to learn, work, and socialise in a way that minimises risk but still provides our students with an on-campus student life.”

Prof Mudzi, the Director of the Postgraduate School, advocated the importance of furthering one’s studies. He stated, “You need to start working hard from day one of university education; the marks you get during your undergraduate years have a huge bearing on your future and your ability to progress to postgraduate studies, as it is highly dependent on the average mark you get at undergraduate level.” In his concluding remarks, Prof Mudzi advised the students to, “learn something new, engage with new people and cultures, enjoy South Africa, while succeeding in your studies at the UFS and working hard”.

Dr Hagenmeier, Director of the Office for International Affairs, delivered the keynote welcome address for the international students, with a brief introduction to the OIA staff. This, as outlined in his address, served the purpose of ensuring that students are familiar with the channels of communication, representatives, and office-bearers in specific portfolios under the OIA, as well as the functions of the OIA.

The evening ended off with musical performances by UFS students, while the attendees dined and networked over a hot plate of food. In the same spirit, the dance floor was opened. This was a very important part of integration, uniting the students regardless of their nationality, race, gender, etc. The students did not think twice about taking to the dance floor – seeing everyone dance made students who did not participate afraid that they were missing out.

News Archive

Kovsies in top four in Global Business Challenge

2015-05-06

Photo: Mark Steenbok (Bloemfontein Courant)

Christiaan Paulsen (team leader), Sias Conradie, Jannie de Wet and Frikkie Jacobs.

Four Kovsies in the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Sciences are one of the top four teams in the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants’ (CIMA) Global Business Challenge. 178 teams registered to participate in the competition.

Team Bernoulli from the UFS will compete against two teams: one from the University of Pretoria and one from the Chartered Accountant Training Institute in Sandton. The winning team will win a trip to Poland, Europe to represent their university and country at the 2015 global final.

This international business competition is for undergraduates around the world, designed to bring out the best in the young business leaders of tomorrow.

Team leader, Christiaan Paulsen, said: “We are overjoyed to be in the final. However, our true success is in what we learned along the way”.

The team has to present a business case study, showcasing their talent in business management. During this competition, the team has

learned to analyse and solve a real-life business case study;
-obtained first-hand experience of the skills required to be a business leader;
enhanced their team building skills; and
developed their presentation skills.

Students from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Ghana, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Ireland, GCC, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Phillipines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vietnam, and Zambia are taking part in the competition.

This competition is organised by CIMA in conjunction with Barclays.

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