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25 October 2022 | Story Edzani Nephalela | Photo Jolandi Griesel
From the left; Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor; Mr. Bill Moses, Managing Director: Education at The Kresge Foundation; Dr Engela van Staden, Vice-Rector: Academic, and Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director: CTL.

The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently rewarded academics for their excellence in innovative teaching and learning. Academic staff from the three UFS campuses gathered at the Reitz Hall on the Bloemfontein Campus to celebrate excellence in learning and teaching, and to celebrate the CTL’s 10 years of existence. 

In her welcoming address, Vice-Rector: Academic Dr Engela van Staden congratulated CTL on its accomplishments over the past 10 years. “You have achieved these honours, who we are, what we have accomplished, and where we are in this decade of the CTL, because you were involved in the processes,” she said. “CTL currently has a nationwide footprint and acknowledges digitalisation and innovation in teaching, while providing a platform for students to enhance themselves.”

The keynote address was delivered by Bill Moses, Managing Director: Education at The Kresge Foundation, a philanthropic foundation headquartered in Troy, Michigan, United States. The Kresge Foundation works to increase higher education access and success while reducing inequitable student outcomes in the USA and South Africa. The foundation is a benefactor of the UFS and other South African universities. Through the Kresge Foundation, the higher education sector in South Africa can collaborate and share knowledge and data to promote student success. 

Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, said these accolades would not have been achievable without the participation and involvement of different colleagues within the university. “For anything to be effective, there must be a connection,” he said. “Understanding the interrelationships and diversity so that we may continually improve on various systems in partnership forums is one of the many issues related to student achievement. I would like to thank every colleague who made it possible.”

Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director of CTL, outlined the Centre’s teaching, learning, and research achievements and impact over the past decade while encouraging staff members to participate in initiatives such as the Siyaphumelela Network, the South African Surveys of Student Engagement (SASSE), as well as the Academic Language and Literacy Development (ALLD) team.

He also acknowledged the Khothatsa project, an initiative which began in 2019 to give recognition to the important pedagogical relationship between staff and students. Khothatsa means “To inspire” in Sesotho. Students are invited to write about a lecturer and how they have inspired the student.

Here is the complete list of UFS Learning and Teaching Conference winners: 

Vice-Chancellor’s Award: Learning and Teaching
Winner: Prof Corlia Janse van Vuuren, Head: School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Bloemfontein Campus

Runner-up: Prof Hanneke Brits, Head: Clinical Unit Medicine, Bloemfontein Campus

Most Valued Professional Award

Winner: Hanlé Posthumus, Research Analyst: CTL, Bloemfontein Campus

Runner-up: Dr Jacques Matthee, Teaching and Learning Manager: Faculty of Law, Bloemfontein Campus

Innovating My Curriculum Through Assessment
Winner: Dr Michael Von Maltitz, Senior Lecturer: Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, Bloemfontein Campus

Runner-up: Prof Olihile Sebolai, Associate Professor: Microbiology and Biochemistry, Bloemfontein Campus

Innovating My Curriculum Through Student Engagement and/or Motivation

Winners: Kobus Swanepoel (Senior Lecturer: Centre For Accounting, Bloemfontein Campus), Prof Cobus Rossouw (Associate Professor: Centre For Accounting, Bloemfontein Campus), Elmarie Goodchild (Senior Lecturer: Centre For Accounting, Bloemfontein Campus), and Prof Alta Koekemoer (Associate Professor: Centre For Accounting, Bloemfontein Campus)

Runner-up: Anneen Church, Lecturer/Researcher: CTL, Bloemfontein Campus

Innovating My Curriculum Using technology and/or Online Tools

Winners: Dr Lizemari Hugo-Van Dyk (Senior Lecturer, School Of Nursing) and Bennie Botha (Portfolio Head: ICST, School of Nursing), Bloemfontein Campus

Runner-up: Dr Sean van der Merwe, Senior Lecturer, Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, Bloemfontein Campus

Innovating My Curriculum Through a Redesign or Renewal of My Module

Winner: Dion Van Niekerk, Lecturer, Drama and Theatre Arts, Bloemfontein Campus

Runner-up: Prof Aliza le Roux, Associate Professor, Zoology and Entomology, Qwaqwa Campus

Research in Learning and Teaching Award: Advanced

Winners: Dr Maria Tsakeni (Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology Education) and Prof Brownhilder Neneh (Professor, Business Management), Bloemfontein Campus

Departmental Learning and Teaching Award Qwaqwa Campus

Department of Curriculum Studies and Higher Education (Faculty of Education)

Departmental Learning and Teaching Award Bloemfontein Campus
Department of Physiotherapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Faculty of Health Sciences) 

Best Research Papers Qwaqwa Campus

Prof Aliza le Roux (Associate Professor, Zoology and Entomology) 

Best Research Papers Bloemfontein Campus

Dr Michael Von Maltitz, Senior Lecturer: Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science

Khothatsa Awards
• Dr Lerato Sekonyela (Faculty of The Humanities), South Campus
• Nteboiseng Hlakotsa (Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences), Qwaqwa Campus
• Dr Edson Vengesai (Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences), Bloemfontein Campus 
• Dr Peet van Aardt (Centre for Teaching and Learning), Bloemfontein Campus
• Dr Ronelle Jansen (Faculty of Health Sciences), Bloemfontein Campus
• Dr Jo-Mari Visser (Faculty of Law), Bloemfontein Campus
• Prof Bradley Smith (Faculty of Law), Bloemfontein Campus
• Dr Maretha du Plessis (Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences), Bloemfontein Campus
• Dr Foch-Henri de Witt (Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences), Bloemfontein Campus

News Archive

UFS committed to a two-language model
2010-08-13

  Prof. Jonathan Jansen

The University of the Free State (UFS) will continue to use a two-language model while it builds capacity for research and teaching in Sotho languages.

This was announced by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, when he delivered the 29th DF Malherbe Memorial Lecture on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein yesterday, on the topic: The politics and prospects of Afrikaans, and Afrikaans schools and universities.

“In the course of time black students will learn Afrikaans, white students will learn Sesotho, and all students will learn decent English,” he said.

“Classes will remain in English and Afrikaans, especially in the first years of study. Dual-medium classrooms will break down the racial isolation where outstanding university teachers are comfortable in both languages. Parallel-medium classes will exist where large numbers enable such a facility.”

He said schools and higher education institutions that continue to use language as an instrument of exclusion, rather than inclusion, would remain “culturally and linguistically impoverished”. He said the future of Afrikaans in these institutions lay in its inter-dependence and co-existence with other languages.

“A strong two-language model of education, whether in the form of double- or parallel-medium instruction within a racially integrated campus environment is the only way in which Afrikaans can and should flourish in a democratic South Africa,” he said.

“It is the only model that resolves two problems at the same time: the demand for racial equity, on the one hand, and the demand for language recognition, on the other hand.”

He said the idea of an exclusively Afrikaans university was a “dangerous” one.

“It will lock up white students in a largely uni-racial and uni-lingual environment, given that the participation rates in higher education for Afrikaans-speaking black students are and for a long time will remain very low,” he said.

“This will be a disaster for many Afrikaans-speaking students for it will mean that the closed circles of social, cultural and linguistic socialization will remain uninterrupted from family to school to university.

“Rather than prepare students for a global world marked by language flexibility and cultural diversity, students will remain locked into a sheltered racial environment at the very stage where most South African students first experience the liberation of the intellect and the broadening of opportunities for engaging with the world around them.

“The choice at the Afrikaans universities, therefore, must never be a choice between Afrikaans and English; it must be both.”

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (actg)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell:   083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
13 August 2010

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