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29 March 2022
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Story Teli Mothabeng
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Photo Supplied
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Philmon Bitso, Student Recruitment Officer, with the top-10 cohort of the class of 2021 Free State Star of Stars.
The Department of Student Recruitment Services at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted its annual Free State Star of Stars competition at the Amanzi Private Game Reserve during the first week of March. The event saw some of the brightest young minds in the Free State inducted as UFS first-year students into this year’s top-10 cohort for the competition. This marks the first Star of Stars event since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This new cohort consists of a dynamic group of academically gifted students from Quintile 1-3 schools in the Free State who are currently enrolled for different UFS academic programmes, ranging from Medicine, Law, Education, and various Bachelor of Science courses. Many of these students had to overcome insurmountable challenges to perform as well as they did in their Grade 12 academic year and to become part of the top-10 cohort for the class of 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Student Recruitment Services was forced to take a different approach to celebrate these deserving students; consequently, a weekend-long induction camp was the substitute for the annual gala dinner.
Apply for the 2022 Free State Star of Stars competition
The UFS realised the need to establish a platform that recognises and celebrates the diverse and, in most instances, difficult circumstances that disadvantaged schools (Quintile 1-3) are facing. Consequently, the Star of Stars competition was developed and established in 2016. This competition provides disadvantaged Grade 12 learners from all districts in the Free State an opportunity to showcase their excellence, while motivating them to aspire to achieve more.
Professor awarded a Fulbright Scholarship
2008-06-24
 Prof. Frans Swanepoel, Director: Research Development and Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development at the University of the Free State (UFS), has received a Senior Fulbright Scholarship. He has been appointed as a visiting professor at Cornell University, New York, United States of America (USA) and will spend the period September 2008-January 2009 as a Fulbright Scholar at the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIFAD) where he will co-teach a Ph.D. course on agricultural development in Africa. The Fulbright Scholarship is regarded as one of the most prestigious awards by the USA government. The purpose of the scholarship is to promote mutual understanding, dialogue and partnership between the USA and other countries around the world.
During his stay Prof. Swanepoel will also conduct research supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates- and W.K. Kellogg Foundations to revise agricultural education curricula in Africa to become more responsive to the needs of smallholder African family farms. The goal of this research programme is the emergence of an agricultural human resource and knowledge system that drives smallholder farmer-led development and innovation to achieve improved productivity, food security and economic development in Africa.
Photo: Supplied |