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Academic programme to continue online with immediate effect

02 August 2023

Sporadic disruptions of academic activities occurred yesterday and this morning on the Bloemfontein, South and Qwaqwa Campuses.

In recent weeks, the university management has made various attempts to keep the campuses open for face-to-face learning and teaching amid challenges experienced with the disbursement of students’ National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) allowances through eZaga, an online digital banking service, tasked with dispersing direct payments to NSFAS beneficiaries.

These attempts include, but are not limited to, the attendance of meetings by UFS representatives with NSFAS, arranged by Universities South Africa (USAf); meetings with NSFAS attended by Prof Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal; constant engagements with NSFAS by the university’s Financial Aid Office; a meeting with the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, to discuss the matter – this was postponed to a later date; constant engagements with the Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) on matters relating to NSFAS, etc. These attempts are, however, not acceptable to our students.

To minimise the risk to the academic programme, as well as the fact that this is a sector-wide challenge, the academic programme, (activities, classes, and assignments) will continue online as far as possible from 2 to 4 August 2023. Further information about students’ online academic programme will be communicated by the respective faculties.

The university management would like to thank our academic staff for their commitment during this time, and for ensuring that the academic programme continues through online delivery.

The university is not closed; all other activities will continue as normal. All campuses are also accessible. The situation on the campuses is being monitored closely and the necessary security measures are in place to ensure the safety of students and staff.

The university’s protocol during protests provides guidance to students and staff on how to act during protests.

Students and staff will be updated on the situation.

News Archive

Students help to get the economy back to the rural areas

2009-08-14

At the launch of Sanlam’s Creativity for Progress Competition for the Ekn 324 group were, from the left: P.J. Bothma, Mr Frank Louw, National Sponsorship Manager of Sanlam, Dr Karen Thomas, lecturer in Economic Policy at the Department of Economics, Kaylee Wells and Eugene Maseme.
Photo: Lacea Loader

Third-year students in the subject Economic Policy Analysis at the UFS are hard at work to think of ideas on how knowledge and expertise can be taken back to the rural areas of South Africa. This is the theme of Sanlam’s national competition for universities called Creativity for Progress with a total prize money of R900 000. This year's topic is "Rural areas are failing to retain and attract skilled people and graduates, resulting in economic stagnation. How would you remedy this?"

The group of 162 students, which is divided into groups of six, must compile a project that is academically grounded, practical and implementable. They must also approach the project from a community service learning perspective and it counts a quarter of their semester mark. To encourage the students, Prof. Tienie Crous, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, has sponsored some prizes for which the groups must compete. Teams of between four and six members will first compete at intra-varsity level to determine a varsity winner. The national panel members will then adjudicate the varsity winners, and invite the semi finalists to the finals. Teams will be assessed on their business proposals as well as the presentation of these proposals to a panel of judges. Last year the group from the UFS ended second in the final round of the competition.

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