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27 September 2022 | Story André Damons | Photo Charl Devenish
Prof Martin Nyanga
Prof Martin Nyaga, Associate Professor in the UFS-NGS Unit and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC), says the UFS researchers – through the Division of Virology/NHLS and the UFS-NGS Unit – were involved in the major publication as part of the NGS-SA consortium from the study design phase, ethics applications, and throughout the study.
Researchers from the University of the Free State (UFS) Next Generation Sequencing (UFS-NGS) Unit and Division of Virology/ National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) were part of a major publication featuring hundreds of authors from Africa who did research on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

The scientific publication in the journal Science (impact factor 47.728) featured more than 300 scientists and public health officials from Africa and abroad, who worked together to look into the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, the viral agent causing COVID-19. It was the first collaborative study of this nature conducted in Africa during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The publication became available online on 15 September this year. 

According to a press release by the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) at Stellenbosch University and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), this was the largest consortium of African scientists and public health institutions working together to support data-driven COVID-19 response in Africa. This collaboration was led by two labs (CERI and KRISP) and the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) consortium, of which the UFS-NGS Unit and Division of Virology are founding members, in close coordination with the Africa CDC, WHO/AFRO and 300 other institutions across the continent.

It is an awesome feeling

Prof Martin Nyaga, Associate Professor in the UFS-NGS Unit and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC), says the UFS researchers – through the Division of Virology/NHLS (coordinated by Prof Dominique Goedhals and Mr Philip Armand Bester) and also the UFS-NGS Unit (Prof Nyaga, Dr Peter Mwangi, Mr Milton Mogotsi, and Mr Emmanuel Ogunbayo) – were involved as part of the NGS-SA consortium from the study design phase, ethics applications, and throughout the study, processing the SARS-CoV-2 positive samples for whole-genome sequencing, thus generating significant sequence data of the SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in South Africa.

“It is an awesome feeling to be part of the solution in resolving the COVID-19 pandemic by providing data that would track variants in real time and data used to implement prophylactic solutions, such as vaccine development, against a virus that was a global threat,” says Prof Nyaga. 

According to him, the utility of next-generation sequencing technologies in understanding genomics of diseases was clearly demonstrated in this study and will assist in addressing future diseases/pandemics. These genomic studies provide deeper insights regarding diseases, and they will provide timely solutions to solving diseases affecting the Mother Continent.

UFS Free State variants study

Prof Nyaga says their Free State variants study, which was also recently published in the journal Frontiers in Virology, performed analysis of samples from patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 throughout all the COVID-19 waves. “We aimed to determine whether the variants driving the epidemic waves at the national level were also driving the epidemic waves at the local level, in the context of the Free State province. The data further indicates that SARS-CoV-2 variants driving the epidemic waves in the Free State at the local level correlated with the ones driving the epidemic waves at the national level. Findings from this study highlight the importance of continued genomic surveillance and monitoring of the circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants to inform public health efforts and ensure adequate control of the ongoing pandemic. 

“Our data has been incorporated into the analyses of the bigger continent-wide collaboration on genomics surveillance to determine how the majority of COVID-19 variants were introduced into Africa, which has now been published in the journal Science,” says Prof Nyaga.  
The publication highlights that sustained investment in diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa was needed to not only help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent, but to establish a platform to address the emerging, re-emerging, endemic infectious disease threats, such as Ebola, HIV/Aids, TB, malaria, and enteric disease-causing viruses.

News Archive

MBA Programme - Question And Answer Sheet - 27 May 2004
2004-05-27

1. WHAT MUST THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE (UFS) DO TO GET FULL ACCREDITATION FOR THE MBA PROGRAMMES?

According to the Council on Higher Education’s (CHE) evaluation, the three MBA programmes of the UFS clearly and significantly contribute to students’ knowledge and skills, are relevant for the workplace, are appropriately resourced and have an appropriate internal and external programme environment. These programmes are the MBA General, the MBA in Health Care Management and the MBA in Entrepreneurship.

What the Council on Higher Education did find, was a few technical and administrative issues that need to be addressed.

This is why the three MBA programmes of the UFS received conditional accreditation – which in itself is a major achievement for the UFS’s School of Management, which was only four years old at the time of the evaluation.

The following breakdown gives one a sense of the mostly administrative nature of the conditions that have to be met before full accreditation is granted by the CHE:

a. A formal forum of stakeholders: The UFS is required to establish a more structured, inclusive process of review of its MBA programmes. This is an administrative formality already in process.

b. A work allocation model: According to the CHE this is required to regulate the workload of the teaching staff, particularly as student numbers grow, rather than via standard management processes as currently done.

c. Contractual agreements with part-time staff: The UFS is required to enter into formal agreements with part-time and contractual staff as all agreements are currently done on an informal and claim-basis. This is an administrative formality already in process.

d. A formal curriculum committee: According to the CHE, the School of Management had realised the need for a structure – other than the current Faculty Board - where all MBA lecturers can deliberate on the MBA programmes, and serve as a channel for faculty input, consultation and decision-making.

e. A system of external moderators: This need was already identified by the UFS and the system is to be implemented as early as July 2004.

f. A compulsory research component: The UFS is required to introduce a research component which will include the development of research skills for the business environment. The UFS management identified this need and has approved such a component - it is to take effect from January 2005. This is an insufficient element lacking in virtually all MBA programmes in South Africa.

g. Support programmes for learners having problems with numeracy: The UFS identified this as a need for academic support among some learners and has already developed such a programme which will be implemented from January 2005.

The majority of these conditions have been satisfied already and few remaining steps will take effect soon. It is for this reason that the UFS is confident that its three MBA programmes will soon receive full accreditation.

2. WHAT ACCREDITATION DOES THE UFS HAVE FOR ITS MBA PROGRAMME?

The UFS’s School of Management received conditional accreditation for its three MBA programmes.

Two levels of accreditation are awarded to tertiary institutions for their MBA programmes, namely full accreditation and conditional accreditation. When a programme does not comply with the minimum requirements regarding a small number of criteria, conditional accreditation is given. This can be rectified during the short or medium term.

3. IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE ACADEMIC CORE OF THE UFS’s MBA PROGRAMMES?

No. The UFS is proud of its three MBA programmes’ reputation in the market and the positive feedback it receives from graduandi and their employers.

The MBA programmes of the UFS meet most of the minimum requirements of the evaluation process.

In particular, the key element of ‘teaching and learning’, which relates to the curriculum and content of the MBA programmes, is beyond question. In other words, the core of what is being taught in our MBA programmes is sound.

4. IS THE UFS’s MBA A WORTHWHILE QUALIFICATION?

Yes. Earlier this year, the School of Management – young as it is - was rated by employers as the best smaller business school in South Africa. This was based on a survey conducted by the Professional Management Review and reported in the Sunday Times Business Times, of 25 January 2004.

The UFS is committed to maintaining these high standards of quality, not only through compliance with the requirements of the CHE, but also through implementing its own quality assurance measures.

Another way in which we benchmark the quality of our MBA programmes is through the partnerships we have formed with institutions such as the DePaul University in Chicago and Kansas State University, both in the US, as well as the Robert Schuman University in France.

For this reason the UFS appreciates and supports the work of the CHE and welcomes its specific findings regarding the three MBA programmes.

It is understandable that the MBA review has caused some nervousness – not least among current MBA students throughout the country.

However, one principle that the UFS management is committed to is this: preparing all our students for a world of challenge and change. Without any doubt the MBA programme of the UFS is a solid preparation.

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