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16 May 2022
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Story Lacea Loader
The academic programme on the Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) will mostly continue online for this week, and students will be informed by their faculties about the revised schedule as well as arrangements regarding tests and assessments scheduled for this week on the campus.
This decision came after about 100 students blocked the entrance to the campus on the morning of 16 May 2022 and were dispersed by members of the South African Police Service (SAPS). This was followed by the stoning of some of the staff cottages from outside the periphery fence as the police again dispersed students. The students’ action was preceded by a night vigil at the main gate of the campus on 15 May 2022 by a group of about 200 students demanding that private accommodation payments be made to them and not to their chosen landlords.
The university management condemns today’s destructive behaviour by the students in the strongest terms – especially after the campus experienced violent protest action and arson this year, which affected the academic programme negatively.
The campus remains open; the university's Protection Services is on high alert and is closely monitoring the situation on campus in cooperation with the SAPS.
Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Marketing)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
UFS strengthens ties with Mexican university
2010-05-11
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At the First Joint Subcommittee on Technical, Scientific and Technological Co-operation were, from left: Prof. Nahum Marban-Mendoza, Chairperson of the Department of Agroparasitology, UACH; Dr Gisela Pena-Ortega, Director of the Office for International Affairs and Academic Exchange, UACH; Prof. Wijnand Swart, Director of UFS Strategic Academic Cluster 4: Technologies for Crop Industries in Semi-arid regions; and Dr Victor Pinto, Department of Parasitology, UACH.
Photo: Mercedes Cuenca |
In 2006, the University of the Free State (UFS) signed an institutional agreement with the Autonomous University of Chapingo (UACH) in Mexico. This made the UFS the first South African academic institution to establish scientific relations with Mexico.
It was for this reason that Prof. Wijnand Swart, Director of the UFS Strategic Academic Cluster 4: Technologies for Crop Industries in Semi-arid regions, was invited to participate in the First Joint Subcommittee on Technical, Scientific and Technological Cooperation held recently in Mexico City. During his visit, Prof. Swart secured the working relationship between the UFS and the UACH.
During the first meeting of the Mexico-South Africa Bi-national Commission, the Mexican Foreign Secretary and Minister of Foreign Affairs and South African Minister for International Relations and Cooperation signed a joint statement. The statement, “Mexico and South Africa: Towards a Priority Relationship”, together with a Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement, will lay the foundations for monitoring existing collaboration and promote new actions between institutions in Mexico and South Africa.
Prof. Swart spent the remainder of his stay in Mexico presenting lectures to staff and students at the UACH on integrated pest management and challenges facing South African agriculture. He also engaged in discussions with Dr Gisela Pena-Ortega, Director of the UACH Office for International Affairs and Academic Exchange, about the establishment of a staff and student exchange programme with the UFS.