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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.
Prof Neil Heideman awarded a Fellowship
2006-07-25
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Prof Neil Heideman, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), was awarded the Fulbright Senior Researcher Fellowship to visit the laboratory of Prof Jack Sites, a fellow herpetologist at Brigham Young University, Utah, in the United States of America (USA), from October 2006-January 2007.
The Fulbright programme is a flagship programme of the government of the USA which focuses on the exchange of international experts in a variety of educational activities such as advanced research and university lecturing.
Prof Heideman will use the opportunity to develop an understanding of the application of micro satellites (short repetitive sequences in DNA molecules) to population genetics questions. In recent years micro satellites have become the marker of choice for measuring genetic variability in populations. Prof Sites has extensive experience in the application of the technique and is therefore an ideal candidate to spend time with. Although not new to South Africa, the country's capacity in the use of micro satellites is still very limited, being essentially non-existent among herpetologists.
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