Latest News Archive

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

UFS honours young researchers
2006-02-10

Some of the guests attending the recognition function were from the left:  Prof Magda Fourie (Vice-Rector:  Academic Planning at the UFS), Mr Joseph Smiles (lecturer at the UFS Department of Political Science and Thuthuka grant holder), Prof Frans Swanepoel (Director:  Research Development at the UFS) and Dr Carlien Pohl (lecturer at the UFS Department of Microbial,  Biochemical and Food Biotechnology and Thuthuka grant holder).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

The guest speaker was Prof Jonathan Jansen, Dean:  Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria (UP).  He gave tips to young and promising researchers on how to be an outstanding scholar. 
What is a Scholar 

UFS honours young researchers       

The University of the Free State (UFS) last night honoured 24 young researchers who are taking part in the National Research Fund’s (NRF) Thuthuka programme.

The recognition function is the first of its kind at the UFS.  “The renewed focus on research development that was recently announced at the official opening of the UFS by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Frederick Fourie, is an indication of the institution’s endeavour to create an environment in which research can be improved and flourish.  This can only be obtained when researchers are being valued and that is why it is important to honour our young researchers,” said Mrs Annelize Venter, researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate and coordinator of the programme.
 
The focus on research was also touched on recently by President Thabo Mbeki during the opening of Parliament when he said:  “We will continue to engage the leadership of our tertiary institutions focused on working with them to meet the nation’s expectations with regard to teaching and research. For its part, the government is determined to increase the resource allocation for research and development and innovation, and increase the pool of young researchers."

According to Mrs Venter, research done in 2004 shows that the majority researchers who publish are white males above the age of 50.  “Many students who undertake magister studies choose not to conduct research, but rather to do a thesis and additional subjects.  This means that research is not stimulated.  Students also find it difficult to obtain financial support for postgraduate studies,” she explained.
“Thutuka is a capacity building programme of the NRF that is aimed to 
fund and support the qualifications of women and young black scientists and other researchers who do not have a rating for postgraduate research.  It is based on a funding partnership between the UFS and the NRF,” said Mrs Venter.

Last night Prof Frans Swanepoel, Director: Research Development at the UFS, added to his by saying:  “With the Thuthuka programme we aim to create and sustain a research culture at the UFS, promote international research and train researchers of a high quality and enhance the research capacity at the UFS by focusing on women, black researchers and other promising researchers.”
 
The programme was started by the NRF in 2001.  At that stage only 17 grants were made countrywide.  Last year 370 postgraduate students took part in the programme.

According to Mrs Venter the programme was implemented at the UFS in 2003.  “At that stage we only had 5 grant holders.  This year there are 24 Ph D and magister students on the programme,” she said. 

A couple of young promising researchers, who will be participating in the programme in 2007, also attended last night’s recognition function.

The guest speaker was Prof Jonathan Jansen, Dean:  Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria (UP).  He gave tips to young and promising researchers on how to be an outstanding scholar.

Nine professors were also congratulated with their promotion to senior research professor, namely Proff Louise Cilliers (Department of English and Classical Languages), James du Preez (Department of Microbial,  Biochemical and Food Biotechnology), Johan Grobbelaar (Department of Plant Sciences), Dingie Janse van Rensburg (Centre for Health Systems Research and Development), Dap Louw (Department of Psychology), Philip Nel (Department of Afro-asiatic Studies and Language Practice and Sign Language), Louis Scott (Department of Plant Sciences), Dirk van den Berg (Department of History of Art) and  Andries Raath (Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law).

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
10 February 2006

 

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