Latest News Archive

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

Students’ perspectives on multilingualism at the UFS

28 September 2022 | Story Edzani Nephalela | Photo Edzani Nephalela

Swanti Jerry Thoka, former CSRC President and Actuarial Science student, expresses his questions and policy proposals during the questions-and-answers session.

Multilingualism is a buzzword at many South African universities. These universities promote social cohesion, a sense of belonging, and epistemic access and success by improving and advancing existing language policies and practices.

On 16 September 2022, the University of the Free State (UFS) had its first student discussion on the Bloemfontein Campus regarding the draft Language Policy, which is being reviewed for an updated version in 2023. With English being the primary language of teaching and learning, this policy aims to promote diversity in teaching and learning in Sesotho, isiZulu, Afrikaans, and Sign Language through translating tutorials and academic vocabulary and continuously establishing and maintaining trans-institutional, interinstitutional, and intra-institutional collaborations for the development of a translanguaging culture.

During the presentation, Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane, Director of the Academy for Multilingualism, revealed to students that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has designated a decade – from 2022 to 2032 – as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. This guarantees that these languages are promoted and advanced enough to be utilised as academic languages in academia. "This puts pressure on the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) to recognise students' different languages in institutions. Section 29 of the South African Constitution further stipulates that we all have the right to learn in our preferred language, but only if it is practical. So currently, we cannot learn in these languages due to the lack of glossaries," Dr Ngubane said.

During the question-and-answer session, Swanti Jerry Thoka, a former Campus Student Representative Council (CSRC) President and Actuarial Science student, cited the policy. "The policy states that it will entail developing previously disadvantaged languages, which includes both indigenous languages and Sign Language, as well as continuing to improve existing ones. Why don't we concentrate on development because the current languages have advanced? For example, a Sign Language policy appears to exist, but it lacks a comprehensive execution strategy," Thoka said.

Dr Ngubane noted all the remarks and questions, and assured attendees that they would be addressed at the next Council meeting. She stressed the value of students’ participation in policymaking, since their future is being debated. She further explained that students should provide the SRC with recommendations to submit at the Council meetings, because the SRC are their elected representatives.

Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane, Director of the Academy for Multilingualism, presents the draft language policy at the Equitas, Bloemfontein Campus.
(Photo: Edzani Nephalela)

News Archive

Producers to save thousands with routine marketing strategies, says UFS researcher

2014-09-01

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Using derivative markets as a marketing strategy can be complicated for farmers. The producers tend to use high risk strategies which include the selling of the crop on the cash market after harvest; whilst the high market risks require innovative strategies including the use of futures and options as traded on the South African Futures Exchange (SAFEX).

Using these innovative strategies are mostly due to a lack of interest and knowledge of the market. The purpose of the research conducted by Dr Dirk Strydom and Manfred Venter from the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State (UFS) is to examine whether the adoption of a basic routine strategy is better than adopting no strategy at all.

The research illustrates that by using a Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function (SERF) and Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) that the use of five basic routine marketing strategies can be more rewarding. These basic strategies are:
• Put (plant time)
• Twelve-segment pricing
• Three-segment pricing
• Put (pollination)(Critical Moment in production/marketing process), and
• Pricing during pollination phase.

These strategies can be adopted by farmers without an in-depth understanding of the market and market-signals. Farmers can save as much as R1.6 million per year on a 2000ha farm with an average yield.

The results obtained from the research illustrate that each strategy is different for each crop. Very important is that the hedging strategies are better than no hedging strategy at all.

This research can also be applicable to the procurement side of the supply chain.

Maize milling firms use complex procurement strategies to procure their raw materials, or sometimes no strategy at all. In this research, basic routine price hedging strategies were analysed as part of the procurement of white maize over a ten-year period ranging from 2002–2012. Part of the pricing strategies used to procure white maize over the period of ten years were a call and min/max strategy. These strategies were compared to the baseline spot market. The data was obtained from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Agricultural Products Division better known as SAFEX.

The results obtained from the research prove that by using basic routine price-hedging strategies to procure white maize, it is more beneficial to do so than by procuring from the spot market (a difference of more than R100 mil).

Thus, it can be concluded that it is not always necessary to use a complex method of sourcing white maize through SAFEX, to be efficient. By implementing a basic routine price hedging strategy year on year it can be better than procuring from the spot market.

Understanding the Maize Maze by Dr Dirk Strydom and Manfred Venter (pdf) - The Dairy Mail

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