Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Annual conference enhances teaching and learning

10 October 2022 | Story Edzani Nephalela | Photo Supplied

UFS CTL Teaching and Learning Conference — The University of the Free State (UFS) recently held its annual Teaching and Learning Conference. The theme of this year’s conference was Celebrating excellence in learning and teaching, coinciding with the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) 10-year celebrations.

The University of the Free State (UFS) recently held its annual Teaching and Learning Conference which began with three pre-conference workshops on the Bloemfontein Campus on 12 and 13 September and ended with a virtual conference hosted from 14 to16 September 2022.

The aim of the UFS Learning and Teaching Conference is to provide academics and academic support staff the opportunity to showcase their innovative learning and teaching practices within different disciplines, as well as to advance the scholarship of teaching and learning at the institution. The theme of this year’s conference was Celebrating excellence in learning and teaching, coinciding with the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) 10-year celebrations. During the pre-conference workshops, the focus was on blended learning, curriculum development, and student engagement.

Dr Engela van Staden, Vice-Rector: Academic, opened the virtual conference on 14 September. She highlighted that universities contribute to the country’s economy through the type of graduates they produce. Therefore, the lecturers are vital; they must use various learning and teaching strategies and diligently perform their jobs to prepare students for the world of work.

“We must stay current and grasp new advancements in our discipline and teaching methods. These techniques should also recognise students' diversity and multilingualism. With the new Language Policy, we should ensure that our dominant languages are used in academia in years to come. We are here to assist students in becoming employable graduates, and one of the elements that CTL has embarked on is the support we are receiving from them through various programmes, such as Enterprising your Degree: ePortfolio Development (EDED), which provides our students with platforms to market themselves in many professional fields,” Dr Van Staden said.

Furthermore, Dr Van Staden emphasised the importance of research in enabling and empowering students to remain relevant. COVID-19 has also demonstrated the importance of the teaching approach and tested its efficacy in the classroom. This has resulted in the UFS moving towards becoming a digitalised institution. She stated that the institution has an agreement with the Free State Department of Health to conduct robotic surgery. She further explained that this is not about replacing academics, but about improving teaching and learning.

In his welcoming address on the second day of the virtual conference, Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, said that the reduction of the achievement gaps between a diverse group of people over the past decade demonstrates that the UFS is not just talking about innovation, equity, quality, and success, but about walking the talk – practically implementing what they profess, to make a real difference in the lives of the students, and to ensure the relevance of the institution.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the effective use of advanced data analytics was one of the contributing factors that enabled us to transition to an online learning and teaching environment successfully. It has allowed us to identify a lack of participation in online tuition, to reach out to individual students at risk, and respond with appropriate support mechanisms – thereby ensuring student success,” Prof Peterson added.

He further explained that Vision 130 commemorates 130 years of the UFS’ existence and is also a strategy to reposition the university for 2034 to ensure stability and clarity for planning and decision-making, while leaving scope for adaptation and agility. This vision will, among other things, promote

• academic excellence, quality, and impact;

• maximum societal impact with sustainable relationships; and

• a diverse, inclusive, and equitable university.

Sizofunda Ngenkani: The Politics and Voice and Merit Principles in Higher Education

Prof Pearl Sithole, Vice-Principal: Academic and Research on the Qwaqwa Campus – one of the keynote speakers – asked, “What impact does our education have on the world? Consider our social enterprise. This demonstrates that there are stumbling blocks that prevent us from learning. We understand that education is a two-way street – capabilities and quality of access. Much has been done to demonstrate that education is more than a classroom endeavour, yet something must explain why education has failed to have the intended influence in societies. This is targeted at the interaction between society and education, and as academics, we are up to the task to ensure that these issues are solved through various programmes.”

Building future excellence through scholarship, collaboration, and action for impact

In his keynote address, Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director: CTL, presented some of the strategies that have contributed to CTL’s success since its inception in 2012, despite some of the challenges that institutions of higher learning encountered.

“Scholarships, collaboration, and action have always been instilled in us. We have integrated higher education research, organisational development, and management literature, considering international and national institutional viewpoints and settings. We acknowledge and promote faculty contributions and the dedication of teaching and learning managers who are supported by deans and academics to enhance the quality of teaching and learning,” said Prof Strydom.

He also emphasised the different programmes and research that contributed to this result. There are 223 national and 52 international conference papers, 288 research reports, two books, 93 articles/book chapters/peer-reviewed conference publications, and 35 postgraduate student supervisions.

Following the conference, the centre will be hosting its annual teaching and learning awards event on 12 October 2022 to recognise and award the excellent work done in learning and teaching at the UFS.

News Archive

Student leaders 2012/13 announced

2012-08-30

Ready for the task - Sabelo Khumalo, SRC President of the Qwaqwa Campus and William Clayton, SRC President of the Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Johan Roux
31 August 2012

The 2012/13 elections for the Student Representative Councils (SRC) of the University of the Free State were completed successfully and show meaningful support for the changes in student governance adopted by students across campuses over the past two years.

The SRC elections at the Qwaqwa Campus were completed on 23 August 2012, while the elections at our Bloemfontein Campus took place on 27 and 28 August 2012.

The SRC Elections at our Bloemfontein Campus showed a voter turnout of 4516 votes (30.8%), with the elections at the Qwaqwa Campuses showing 1753 votes (46%) – both campuses reached the required quorums and the IEA (Bloemfontein Campus) and IEC (Qwaqwa Campus) declared the elections free and fair and announced the results as a true reflection of the will of the student bodies at the campuses.

The full SRC at Bloemfontein Campus now consists of 62% black and 38% white, and 53% female and 47% male members.

In the Qwaqwa elections, SADESMO achieved 46, 38% of the vote, with SASCO, PASMA and NASMO each achieving 30,23% and 8,39% and 14,26%, respectively.

The successful elections at Bloemfontein Campus show that the detailed transformation of student governance introduced by students at the Campus in 2010 and adopted by the university in 2011, succeeded in mobilizing greater participation of students in governance and representation. These changes in the main included a shift to independent candidacy for elective portfolios (12 seats) and organizational candidacy in nine sub-councils that holds ex officio seats on the SRC. Changes also included the establishment of student representative seats in faculty governance and management forums and the adoption of a reviewed Central SRC Constitution. Ex officio seats hold full and equal constitutional authority in the SRC.

Students at Qwaqwa Campus introduced additional portfolios to its SRC, including ex-officio seats for academic affairs, arts and culture, commuter students, Rag Community Service, religious affairs, residences and sports.

A joint sitting of the Campus SRCs will establish the Central SRC 2012/13 on 9 September 2012.

As a further opportunity for participation in and the development of student governance and representation, the current Central SRC herewith also announces its recent adoption of a student governance advisory programme, namely the UFS Student Elders Council (SEC).

The SEC is established as a combined programme between the Central SRC and the Dean of Student Affairs and will consist of selected senior student leaders from all campuses who completed their terms of office, apply and are appointed to the Elders Council by the Central SRC.

The Council will serve as an advisory structure to the Central SRC and other student structures in support of the continuous development of student governance and representation of the student body at the university.

The SEC will advise the Central SRC to be constituted following the constitution of the respective Campus SRCs.

The SRC members at the Bloemfontein Campus are:

President: Mr William Clayton

Vice-President: Mr Bonolo Thebe

Secretary: Ms Karis-Robin Topkin

Treasurer: Mr Pieter Coetzee

Arts & Culture: Ms Chanmari Erasmus

Accessibility & Student Support: Ms Gene McCaskill

First-generation Students: Ms Tanya Calitz

Legal and Constitutional Affairs: Ms Nokuthula Sithole

Media, Marketing & Liaison: Ms Neo Chere

Sport: Mr Tshepo Moloi

Student Development & Environmental Affairs: Ms Thabisile Mgadi

Transformation: Ms Koketso Mofokeng

Dialogue & Ex officio: Associations Council: Mr Anesu Ruswa

Academic Affairs & Ex officio: Academic Affairs Council: Ms Nombuso Ndlovu

Residence Affairs & Ex officio: Residences Council: Mr Johann Steyn

City Residence Affairs & Ex officio: Commuter Council: Mr Michael van Niekerk

Postgraduate Affairs & Ex officio: Postgraduate Council: Mr Fadeyi Akinsuyi

International Affairs & Ex officio: International Council: Ms Tumelo Moreri

Student Media Affairs & Ex officio: Media Council: Mr Jamal-Dean Grootboom

RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Fundraising Council: Mr Jaco Faul

RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Community Service Council: Ms Keneue Mahloana

The SRC members at the Qwaqwa Campus are:

President General: Mr S Khumalo

Deputy President: Mr P T Lenka

Secretary General: Mr D Khethang

Treasurer General: Mr S I Sithole

Media & Publicity: Mr S N Ntombela

Politics & Transformation: Tbc

Student Development & Evironmental Affairs: Tbc Academic Affairs: Mr T Molawude

Arts & Cultural Affairs: Mr T Nkohli

Off-Campus Students: Mr B Mtshali

RAG, Community Service & Dialogue: Ms S F Mlotya

Religious Affairs: Ms D C Khau

Residence & Catering Affairs: Ms Z Mzolo

Sports Council: Mr S Mngomezulu

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept