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UFS Choirs Entertaining and Uplifting Staff and Students

25 March 2022 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Supplied

The Bloemfontein Campus Choir singing in front of the Main Building for students in celebration of Human Rights Day.

Students on the Bloemfontein Campus were treated to a lunch-hour music performance by the campus choir – an uplifting musical production led by the indomitable Sibongile Mngoma, conductor of the choir on the Bloemfontein Campus. The performance, which was in celebration of Human Rights Day, took place on 22 March 2022 in front of the Main Building. “We realised that people were hungry to hear beautiful music and beautiful sounds, and we started these pop-up performances just to revive people’s spirit and to give them hope,” says Lucy Sehloho, Officer: Arts and Culture in the Department of Student Affairs. As such, the staff and students at the University of the Free State (UFS) can look forward to a series of pop-up performances by the UFS choirs, specifically on the Bloemfontein and South Campuses.

One institution, different sounds

According to Sehloho, “the choirs are all running on the same constitution and the same code of conduct”. However, they are slightly different in sound, and this is determined by the audience to whom the respective choirs cater, and the number of members involved in the choir. The Bloemfontein Campus choir is known to cover genres such as rap, trap, classical music, and South African choral music. However, the Qwaqwa Campus choir focuses on choral music and various African sounds, while the South Campus choir manoeuvres through most of the abovementioned genres.

Preparing for life as an artist after university

It is important to note that the choirs are not just a safe space that encourages expression for young artists. Indeed, for many students it is also the beginning of a career. As such, they are taught lessons about financial literacy and the ability to brand themselves as artists. “One of the things I am teaching the students is how to price and cost themselves,” Sehloho highlighted. In fact, Sehloho argues that a major challenge among young performers when they leave university, is that – because they have never charged a fee for their service – they have no idea how to price and sustain themselves from the money they acquire. Consequently, industry experts are invited to provide insight into the realities of the world for artists once they start working. These industry experts include Dr Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha.

Future endeavours for the respective choirs

In addition to these lessons, the choirs have various projects that they are working on. The Bloemfontein Campus choir is currently planning performances for national holidays such as Freedom Day and Youth Day. The choir is also gearing up for a performance of Handel’s Messiah in celebration of Easter. The South Campus is specifically working towards the Network Festival in collaboration with Oranje Girls’ School. Furthermore, the Bloemfontein Campus choir will compete in the Sing for Gold competition in Barcelona this coming October. Once an institutional choir has been finalised, the Arts and Culture team will represent the UFS and the nation at the World Choir Games in 2023.

The main challenge experienced by the choirs

Although the choirs are succeeding in entertaining and uplifting the UFS community, there are still some challenges that hinder their growth to some extent. Racial diversity is one of these barriers. ‘’When someone looks at the choir, they don’t get to see the full picture of who we as the University of the Free State are in terms of diversity,’’ she explains. Therefore, Sehloho notes that the respective choirs are open to students from all walks of life in order to ensure racial and cultural diversity. As such, students who are interested in joining can contact Lucy Sehloho at SehlohoLP@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

University gets support to improve student success

2014-11-26

From the left are: Prof Francois Strydom (Director: Academic - Centre for Teaching and Learning at the UFS), Mr Rip Rapson (Chief Executive Officer, Kresge Foundation), Dr Marcus Ingram (UFS Director for Institutional Advancement) and Mr Bill Moses (Programme Director for the Kresge Foundation's Education Programme).
Photo: Hannes Pieterse

The Kresge Foundation has awarded $400 000 (about R4 million) to the University of the Free State (UFS) to increase student success through improved data analysis.

This four-year grant, as part of Kresge’s Siyaphumelela initiative, was recently announced by Mr Rip Rapson, Kresge’s President and Chief Executive Officer. This announcement was made at a symposium on South African higher education and philanthropy in Cape Town.

“Universities across South Africa are grappling with how to improve persistence and graduation rates for their black students in particular,” Mr Rapson said. “These universities will work together with the South African Institute for Distance Education to develop their data analytics capacity to find and share solutions and interventions based on solid information to improve student success.”

The UFS was only one of four universities receiving funding from Kresge. The other universities include the Nelson Mandela metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the University of Pretoria.

The grants will help the universities build their capacities to use data to better integrate institutional research, information communication technology, academic development, student services and academic departments. Beyond the improvements sought for the UFS, Kresge hopes to see new approaches to data become mainstream for higher education in South Africa.

The Siyaphumelela initiative provides four years of institutional support and hope to create a community of practice that learns lessons that may benefit not only individual institutions and the cohort, but also potentially all of South African higher education.

Dr Lis Lange, Vice-Rector: Academic at the UFS, said improving student successes is a university goal that operates in the interface between the Human and Academic Projects of the university.

“We are delighted to be part of an initiative that is going to help us develop greater capability for data analytics and deeper integration between data and teaching and learning practices; and, at the same time, will bring the Centre for Teaching and Learning, the Directorate for Institutional Research and Academic Planning (DIRAP) and the faculties into a closer cooperation.”

Over the past four years donor income to the UFS increased considerably, both from governmental sources, trusts and foundations. By the end of 2013, governmental funding increased from about R5 million in 2011 to over R35 million. Funding by trusts and foundations increased from R5 million in 2011 to over R15 million in 2013. A general increase of 25% in funding is expected for 2014.

Dr Marcus Ingram, UFS Director for Institutional Advancement, says as the UFS begins to settle into a refined academic identity, the Department for Institutional Advancement intends to support these efforts by helping to facilitate the telling of a more integrated narrative to the university’s friends, prospects and donors.

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