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07 March 2022 | Story Lacea Loader

On 14 March 2022, the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses of the University of the Free State (UFS) will return to face-to-face classes as per the teaching plans for 2022. The faculties that are continuing with face-to-face classes in the first term (i.e., the Faculties of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and Health Sciences), will remain face-to-face during the week of 7 to 11 March 2022.

The decision to resume face-to-face classes follows previous communiques in February 2022 about the temporary closure of the Qwaqwa Campus due to violent protest action, and the continuation of the academic programme on the Bloemfontein Campus in a differentiated and flexible online delivery mode due to challenges experienced with disruption of classes. 
 
The return to face-to-face classes on 14 March 2022 also follows the reopening of and resumption of online classes on the Qwaqwa Campus on 28 February 2022, and the resumption of some face-to-face activity on the Qwaqwa Campus as from 7 March 2022.

As a residential institution, it is important for students to return to campus, for the academic programme to continue as planned, and for activities to return to normal.
 
Students will be informed by their respective faculties as to how the academic programme will be adapted for face-to-face classes, including instances where classes will remain online.

News Archive

SAB World of Learning Brewery bid awarded to Kovsie Brewing
2017-11-28

Description: Kovsie Brewing 2 2017 Tags: Kovsie Brewing 2 2017 

Visitors from SA Breweries (AB InBev), Khosi Mogotsi,
Patience Selesho and Zinhle Ngcobo with
Dr Jan-G Vermeulen and Dr Errol Cason from
Kovsie Brewery.
Photos: Moeketsi Mogotsi

With the recent procurement of SAB by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), a Belgian transnational beverage and brewing company, the 500L educational brewery located at the SAB Cyril Ramaphosa World of Learning, became available for donation. After an initial shortlisting of three universities, the SAB World of Learning Brewery was awarded to the University of the Free State (UFS) to be managed by Kovsie Brewing.

Prof Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research at the UFS, approved the application for a micro-manufacturing liquor licence right in the middle of campus, which effectively put the UFS bid in a class of its own. It is part of her vision that entrepreneurial activities must be visible on campus”

Sixteen universities were approached to obtain the brewery for their respective campuses.

Kovsie Brewing is an initiative started by postgraduate students at the UFS Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology in 2012. The main objective of this initiative was to expose BSc students to brewing as a practical application of the scientific fields presented at the department.
 

Description: Kovsie Brewing 1 2017 Tags: Kovsie Brewing 1 2017 

Label mock-ups made by
Dr Jan-G Vermeulen from
Kovsie Brewery entered into
the yearly  SAB Intervarsity
Brewing Competition. Kovsie
Brewing has won the best label
competition in 2013, 2014 and 2015
and was placed in the top three in
2016 and 2017.


First brewing and fermentation school
Dr Errol Cason, project leader at Kovsie Brewery, said: “Over the past five years the small-scale experimental brewery has steadily grown to the point where we obtained institutional support to establish the first Brewing and Fermentation School at the university.

Dr Cason explains that the primary role of Kovsie Brewing is to establish an accredited fermentation-based curriculum at the UFS to educate undergraduate and postgraduate students in the scientific process involved in the production of beer. “In addition, the donation enables Kovsie Brewing to provide practical job-related training and skills development on industrial grade equipment,” he said.

Emphasis on entrepreneurship
The secondary role is for Kovsie Brewing to function as a multi-disciplinary platform to stimulate the interaction between students from various fields of study. Currently Kovsie Brewing has well-established cooperative projects with both Marketing and Entrepreneurship programmes.

“In the future, Kovsie Brewing will expand on these multi-disciplinary interactions by incorporating other departments of the UFS with the focus on product development, logistics, as well as the legal aspects concerned with brewing,” Dr Jan-G Vermeulen from the Kovsie Brewery team said.

Corporate social investment representatives from AB InBev recently visited the university. Among others they met Drs Vermeulen and Cason. During their visit they also looked at other university projects, including the Department of Paediatric and Child Health and the Universitas Hospital, the Engineering Sciences Department and the Naval Hill Planetarium.

Khosi Mogotsi from AB InBev said: “It was wonderful to experience the passion with which UFS staff do their work.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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