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The Long Journey Back to Campus

01 March 2022 | Story Prof Francis Petersen | Photo Sonia Small (Kaleidoscope Studios)

Prof Petersen_web — Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State.

Opinion article by Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State.

For the past two years, students in tertiary institutions have had to negotiate the choppy waters of emergency online tuition. In February, thousands of students at universities across the country will be returning to the shores of face-to-face learning. But it will require a process of reconnection that may take time and will have to be guided sensitively, says Prof Francis Petersen.

It is a fact of life that, in so many spheres, one’s journey is often as memorable – sometimes even more so – than one’s experiences at a destination. The South African education context is no exception. Many of us grew up with stories of parents and grandparents expanding at length about their difficult journeys to school ‘back in the day’. Some of the details of what happened inside the classroom may have faded over time, but the journey often remains etched in memory. Journeys that tell of sacrifice, of braving harsh weather and long distances – often on foot. A great victory already lies, after all, in the mere process of getting somewhere.

The Online Move

There is little doubt that online tuition was a vital lifebuoy for education during the pandemic and lockdown, and that it will form an increasingly important part of our future educational landscape. The huge digital divide that the move to online education has exposed, remains a most pressing concern that needs to be addressed urgently in order to ensure that students from all socio-economic sectors and both rural and urban environments can access online resources.

One consequence of online learning that is maybe not deliberated as frequently, is that it has essentially eliminated the need for a journey – in this case, the physical journey to a tertiary education campus. Once again, this fact comes with many perceived advantages: no transport costs, no travelling time, no risk associated with moving out of one’s comfort zone. Provided you have access to sufficient resources and connectivity (a topic for another time!), and provided you have a safe home environment conducive to learning (which many of our students sadly lack), it has become incredibly easy and convenient to access education – anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace.

But there are some aspects that can become complicated in the absence of a physical journey.

Because journeys imply a few things:

A Journey Requires a Deliberate Decision About a Destination

People go on journeys because they want to get somewhere. They decide where they want to end up and then take the steps necessary to get there. The physical journey to a place of learning, of course, also reflects a more figurative journey towards an envisaged career and a successful future.

Over the past two years, students have often reported feeling as if they were ‘drifting’ in the online environment, not always sure where they were heading, feeling a bit lost and disconnected. Maybe part of the reason for this lies in the fact that they were not physically going anywhere. Without this physical aspect of the journey, it can become difficult to plot yourself, and difficult to convince yourself that you are moving ahead and making progress.

A Journey Requires a Measure of Sacrifice

A journey also almost always implies sacrifice in some form. Whether it is getting up early to catch a train, a bus, or two taxis to university, incurring fuel costs or transport fees, or just strolling to class across campus from your residence – a successful journey requires discipline and planning. And it takes some form of sacrifice of time and resources.

Which brings me to the next point:

A Journey Requires Commitment

It takes commitment to make those sacrifices needed to complete a journey. And in turn, sacrifice fuels commitment. As human beings, we tend to treasure those things that were hard to obtain, and we do our utmost to hold on to them. The opposite of ‘easy come, easy go’, is equally true. It is often just as easy for students to opt out of online learning sessions, as it is to access it. And this is where the problem sometimes lies: commitment is not really tested or strengthened.

Gaining Courage from Fellow Travellers

Probably the most poignant aspect of the journey analogy, is the fact that it makes you aware of other travellers. The students treading the campus pavements with you, passing you in passages, walking with you into class, are a constant reminder that your journey is not a solitary one. Fellow travellers – and fellow students – reaching out to one another, sharing tips and experiences, make the journey easier for everyone. Interacting with others and knowing that we are not alone, is a vital part of what makes us human, what makes our journeys meaningful.

Dealing with Fear

Countless COVID-19 research projects from all over the world seem to point to one basic bottom line: the absence of physical interaction has taken a huge psychological toll on most of our students. However, psychologists working on our campuses report a significant increase in students seeking psychological help in the run-up to the restart of contact learning. They say some students find the prospect of returning to campus stressful and even terrifying. It is a move that will take them outside their new comfort zones. Many students relate how they have been living in an ‘artificial online world’ for the past two years – not only academically but socially too. Students who used to be very sociable have been spending their non-academic time behind screens too, engaged in gaming, streaming services, and social media. Two years was long enough to blur memories of what used to be normal. Long enough to entrench new habits – not all of them conducive to good mental health – which can take time to change. It was also long enough to desensitise students to what they really need and want.

Psychological Support for Students

The value of providing our students with different forms of psychological support during these unusual and uncertain times cannot be overemphasised. At the University of the Free State (UFS), the various support initiatives we have implemented and expanded over the past two years have undoubtedly contributed to the fact that we could complete the academic years of 2020 and 2021 successfully. Among these initiatives are a 24-hour toll-free mental-health careline as well as an e-mentoring programme that offers socio-emotional support to students. Data analytics revealed that more than a third of our students engaged in these support interventions, and we see it as a major reason that, despite all the obvious challenges, we still managed to improve our overall institutional success rate in 2020 and 2021.

Social Interaction a Basic Need

As tertiary institutions, we need to not only focus on what is convenient for our students at this time, but on what they actually need. And as human beings, we need social interaction. We need to read social cues, expressions, and body language, hear voice intonation, and where possible and appropriate, touch and feel. University life is, after all, about so much more than just attending classes. It is about engaging in sporting and cultural activities, about honing your interests, and finding new ones. It is about learning to collaborate and building networks and support groups, about forming friendships, and entering relationships. And sometimes, it is about just having fun.

Returning to Campus

Most universities are currently introducing some form of blended learning programme, combining online and face-to-face tuition. At the UFS, 67% of our modules on offer will be in a face-to-face format (at least in the early part of 2022), with the necessary COVID-19 protocols in place to ensure a safe environment for staff and students. As we welcome our students back on campus, it is vital that we as university leadership carefully and effectively remind them that their study years should be a holistic experience, encompassing different aspects of their being. We should encourage them to make use of the precious reconnection opportunities with those around them. And be patient as they negotiate their way in an old-but-new environment.

Let the journey begin.

News Archive

SRC Inauguration speech: 22 January 2005

2005-01-22

Campus Head (Prof Peter Mbati). Dean of Students (Dr Natie Luyt). Deputy Director: Student Affairs and my boss (Mr. Teboho Manchu), Members of the University executive and Academic staff members, SRC members, Leaders of trade Unions and Student organizations, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen, most importantly first entering students and Parents receive my heartfelt revolutionary greetings.

Let me extend my word of appreciation to our distinguished guests for adding value and dignity to this event. Your presence here means a lot to us. Program Director what I bring here with me, assisted by facts, and is therefore just the work of my imagination. Like a love letter addressed to a sweetheart miles away, even though you do not know how she feels, what she wants to hear, and do not even know how her face looks like.

To me a speech is just an honest and intimate conversation. That is why I got into the habit of establishing a dialogue, or a debate, with my acquaintances looking at their faces and trying to persuade them of what I am telling them.

Mr. Speaker and Madam Deputy Speaker of the Student Parliament we are gathering at this ceremony, significantly few weeks after the release of grade 12 results, with the exception of those from Mpumalanga because of fraud. The Grade 12 results also show that only 18% of Black learners matriculated with exemptions, as compared to 53, 6% of white learners. This is an indication that our education system needs an overhaul.

We are also gathered here significantly a day after the management retreat held in Bloemfontein, Masselspoort. The retreat discussed, among other things, the transformation agenda, and some possible solutions to challenges we are facing now.

Most regrettably, we are gathered here when the whole world morns the victims of Tsunami tragedy. Let me therefore tore the line and convey our deepest condolences, from the last robot of my heart, to the affected families. Our hearts and thoughts will always be occupied by this horrified tragedy.

Creating a new Institution

I would submit, for purposes of debate and discussions that this Institution should strive to specialize and excel in regional rural development studies. Since our higher education, institutions in South Africa are generally weak in rural development studies. Instead, most of them tend to have an urban orientation to their programmes. Training everybody for the cities, big business and the private sector. This is a big weakness in a country with such large rural areas and population trapped in poverty, disease and ignorance.

Women’s studies

Program Director, it is only a moron who can argue against the fact that for us to reposition the institution around the regional development challenge, we need to start first with women empowerment. It is a fact that in most of our poor communities and families, it is women who withstand the worst of poverty. They are the ones who daily have to wipe tears from children who are hungry. It is women who look after the sick, the elderly, those dying from AIDS and the jobless. They are the one who have to fetch water, make fire and cook. There can therefore be no rural development studies without women studies, in particular on how to empower them and assist in the provision of basic services, so that they are relieved from some of the burdensome task of the society.

Registration Process

Mr. Speaker and Madam Deputy Speaker of the Student Parliament let me indicate that the registration is a process and not an event, so it cannot be concluded overnight. This huge process demands for people to stay calm, as there is no crisis. People should stop being excited. At the same time, no organization should use its cheap popularity and unilaterally disrupt the continuous and smooth running of the registration process at hand.

Let me strongly indicate, madam deputy speaker, that I am on record for stating that I have forgiven all those who have wronged us. I harbour no bitterness towards the protagonists of our painful and unfortunate events of the past week. And we will overcome this process not by our own devices but by the help of Almighty God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Concerning registration of first years, we have programs, concerning that of senior students, we have programs, regarding graduations we have programs, and concerning HIV\AIDS we have programs. So, there is no need for people to press panicking buttons.

Mr. Speaker and Madam Deputy Speaker of the Student Parliament let me be opportunistic and welcome the entire student body on Campus for the academic year 2005. May our lovely first entering students have a happy and momentous year as part of Qwaqwa Campus of University of the Free State. May your studies be fruitful and enjoyable.

Student years are generally the happiest years of your life, so please make the most of them. While you are doing, all your preparations bear in mind that University is not an opportunity, it is just creating opportunities for a person.

On behalf of SRC members, our people, our students and management members I would like to welcome you all. Even though your parents are far away, here at Uniqwa you have more brothers, more sisters and more parents. Since we will love you with the same love as if we are from one family, and I have no doubts that management members will love and care for you as if you are their own children. Should you encounter any problem while studying at the Qwaqwa Campus of University of the Free State do not hesitate to contact us at the SRC offices because we need to ameliorate any factor influencing you negatively while on campus. I wish you well in the attainment of your academic pursuit.

Senior Students: We are not faced with just a new year but another academic year where we all have to work together to achieve our common goal of building our Institution through the development of human power. I urge you to invest your whole selves in this SRC.

For quite some time now, a debate has been ranging as to, whether has there been any progress in this incorporation process, or we are just moving with no direction. This debate is important, but I hasten to add not essential. The SRC is also involved in this debate, but with definite shift in emphasis. For us it is not important to participate in the debate than it is in finding solutions for the challenges of this new chapter in the history of humankind.

To my colleagues: Comrades, we are leading this Institution with a sense of pride and duty, and I know very well that we lead men and women, students who are determined to ensure that we all reach our destination safely and on time.

I said in one of our meetings that there are more enemies on our way, more than we can imagine. I think you witnessed that during the course of this week. The excitement and unnecessary confusions caused by some confused and loosed charlatans bear testimony to my statements. We should not reveal our game plans unless we are ready to slam.

Let me also borrow from the words of the late Albert Lethuli when he said and I quote: “There remains before us the building of the new land, from the ruins of the old narrow groups, a synthesis of the rich cultural strains which we have inherited. The task is immense”. Lastly, a navy divided within its ranks will be vanquished and destroyed by the enemy, but a navy united in purpose and action, loyalty and commitment will not drawn but sail on to victory.

In conclusion, let me call upon all political structures, church denominations, developmental structures, clubs, societies and forums to put aside all their differences, ideological insinuations and forge unity towards transforming Qwaqwa Campus of University of the Free State into an institution that is seen playing vigilant role in developing students academically, politically, socially, spiritually, religiously, culturally and otherwise.

Program Director, let me end my speech by indicating that every drop of my blood is telling me that Uniqwa is my home. I firstly became a student here, I became an activist here, I became a leader here, I became a president here, I will become a graduant here and hopefully I will become an employee here. So never, doubt my commitment towards the community of this campus.

Please be informed, in a central University of Technology’s way, that if there is no UNIQWA in HEAVEN, then I am not GOING.

Let us broaden the social base.

Tello Titus Wa-Motloung President General

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