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08 September 2022 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Bartimea school outreach
Annemarie Le Roux and two of the learners from the Bartimea School for the Deaf and Blind.
It was a perfect Spring Day with laughter, cupcakes, and the brightest smiles on excited little faces of learners from the Bartimea School for the Deaf and Blind in front of the Main Building of the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS). The UFS Department of Deaf Studies and South African Sign Language hosted the school on 1 September 2022 for a day of learning, fun, and lots of games to kickstart #DeafAwarenessMonth. 

The relationship between the department and the school is stronger than ever, and after a two-year hiatus both staff and learners were basking in the excitement of the day. The school faced closure back in 2016 and it was in this year that the department and the student group Signals started a project to visit the school, which saw them participate in different activities with the learners. “We helped the school with the cleaning up of the school grounds and painting the playgrounds,” said Annemarie Le Roux, South African Sign Language lecturer at the UFS. 

UFS could set blueprint for outreach to Deaf communities 

The department and the UFS are in a unique position to set a blueprint for engaged scholarship with the Bartimea school in Thaba ’Nchu and the Thiboloha School for the Deaf and Blind in Phuthaditjhaba (formerly Qwaqwa). 

The Bartimea outreach is an important project for the department because it not only enables the students to put their teachings into practice but also demonstrates the engaged scholarship mandate of the UFS. Le Roux believes more teachers should be able to use SASL in schools, and the UFS could facilitate such training opportunities. “It would be wonderful if the university and the school could work together in engaged teaching and learning.” She added that leaners at the two schools sometimes do not get all the information they need when applying to universities. 

Le Roux thinks the relationship between Bartimea and the department could enable meaningful action to foster engaged citizenship. “We can help with fundraising, because the school is always in need of funding, as most parents cannot contribute to helping the school.” 

Putting teaching excellence into practice

This engagement with Bartimea allows students to put what they have learned in lecture halls into practice. “Students who attend the visits to the school or the school to the university understand more about the culture, and want to learn more and develop their language skills,” Le Roux said. “Before the COVID-19 pandemic we took our third-year and honours students to the school to give them access to the Deaf community.” Furthermore, the engagement helps students gain a better understanding of Deaf culture and sign language.

Also visit our Deaf Awareness Month webpage for more information.  

 

News Archive

Department of Architecture builds next generation of architects
2010-03-22

 
With Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS are René Malan en Sancha Olivier.


Since 1987 first-year architecture students have been building huts on campus annually as part of an introduction to architectural studies at the Department of Architecture at the University of the Free State (UFS).

According to Martie Bitzer, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, the students build these full-scale huts in groups of two, with responses to orientation, materials (grass, reads, earth construction – mud bricks), climate and community over a period of approximately three weeks.

On the day that the students completed their huts, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, visited the small community of 27 huts in the veld behind the Rag Farm. Here he was taken on a walk amongst the huts. He also addressed staff and students of the Department of Architecture

“I can smell excellence and goodness,” was some of Prof. Jansen’s remarks as he walked amongst the huts.

“Top students come to our Department of Architecture. Quality attracts quality. The recent achievements of this department are proof of this,” he said.

One of Kovsies final-year students, Wim Steenkamp, was named National Corobrik Architecture Student of the Year 2008. This was the second time in the past three years that a student from the UFS Department of Architecture has won this prestigious competition. The department also received unconditional accreditation from the South African Council for the Architecture Profession (SACAP) for all three courses offered, and over the past few years its students have won the Tripod Photography Competition, the National Cement and Concrete Institute Competition for honours students, and the Carl and Emily Fuchs Foundation Student Prestigious Prize.

This once again confirms the prestige the department enjoys in the field of architecture in South Africa. It is also proof of the quality of staff and the programmes offered at the department.
 

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