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Prof Petersen hosts university donors and leads a path to growing the university

24 February 2023 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo iFlair Photography

Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State, Prof Francis Petersen at the Sci-Ed Science Education Centre on the Bloemfontein Campus hosting and thanking donors for continued support and sharing plans to grow the institution.

Speaking to donors at the Donor Sundowner Cocktail event held at the Sci-Ed Science Education Centre on the Bloemfontein Campus, Professor Francis Petersen Rector and Vice Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS) said, ‘the university has a voice to make an impact on things important to South African citizens.’

The event hosted by the Department of Institutional Advancement was attended by the CEOs and Corporate Social Investment officers from the organisations involved with UFS faculties of Education, Law, Health Sciences, Natural and Agricultural Sciences, the Business School and support services departments.

The event was marked by the UFS acknowledging the contribution made by existing donors and focused on building new relations and sharing plans, highlighting the role this played in changing the narrative of the university and the lives of the student community.

Prof Petersen thanked the donors for their contributions to the institution. “Financial and in-kind contributions make an immense difference to the university,” said Prof Petersen. He iterated the appreciation of the UFS to the donors, and noted that the ongoing relationship building with existing and new donors and partners is integral for the university.

Re-connect to achieve success

Guests in attendance were also given insight into the recently launched Vision 130 – a 12-year strategy taking the university to 2034 commemorating 130 years. “We want to be a university that has a student population of 35 000, and do more research and development work that can impact locally, nationally, and internationally,” said Prof Petersen.

Prof Peterson highlighted the need for the university to reshape the proportion of undergraduate to postgraduate students and to open more time for staff to do research work that answers to the needs of industry and the private sector. “We must understand that the university is not the only custodian of knowledge. Some knowledge sits amongst yourselves,’ added Prof Petersen.

Mapping the way forward to greater heights

‘The aspiration for the university is to be among the top 600 universities in the world and amongst the top five in the country and to do that, we need to change the shape of the university, by improving qualifications of academic and support staff. We need to get quality skills into the system,’ he said.

Prof Petersen said the university also needs to get ‘quality students into the system and a proxy to that using the National Senior Certificate and Admission Policy Score (APS), we have made a commitment that by 2034 at least 60 percent of students entering the university should have an APS of 35 and higher’. Prof Peterson emphasized the commitment of the UFS that staff and students that come to the university ‘be diverse racially, ability and intellectually.’

The Department of Institutional Advancement is planning a similar event to be held in Cape Town in April, and another in Gauteng later in the year.

News Archive

New digital planetarium first of its kind for Sub-Saharan Africa

2013-10-10

Mr Andrew Johnson, Sky-Skan engineer, explains how the dataprojector of the new digital planetarium functions.
10 October 2013

The University of the Free State (UFS) is the first in the world to boast a modern digital planetarium which was erected within an existing observatory.

It is also the first planetarium of its kind for Sub-Saharan Africa.

“What makes the project unique is the fact that we convert the existing observatory structure into a modern digital planetarium. It hasn’t been done anywhere else,” says Andrew Johnson, engineer at Sky-Skan, the company supplying the equipment and also installing it.

Andrew has worked on similar projects, with his company installing digital planetariums around the world.

What makes the planetarium so special is the fact that it offers visitors an inclusive experience.

“Previously visitors could only watch projected stars and constellations, but with the digital planetarium they can now experience a journey through space which feels very close to reality.”

Andrew points out that, apart from stargazing and travelling through space, the digital planetarium allows the audience to visit planets, explore the secrets of the oceans or even organs in the human body.

The planetarium will also be used for concerts, state-of-the-art presentations, theatre productions, as well as meetings, conferences and exhibitions.

The auditorium can seat approximately 90 adults or 120 children.

The digital dome that was recently fitted into the existing observatory structure, is a 12-metre seamless aluminium screen complemented by a powerful surround-sound system and multiple data projectors from Sky-Skan. This results in an immersive experience of the digital universe, as well as the recreation of the macro and micro cosmos an a variety of other environments.

The planetarium will be officially opened on Friday 1 November 2013 by Derek Hanekom, Minister of Science and Technology. Prof Matie Hoffman from the Department of Physics at the UFS is delighted at this visit from Minister Hanekom.

“This recognition and national interest demonstrates the importance and contribution of the first digital planetarium in Sub-Saharan Africa to science and astronomy. It is also evidence that a facility like this is important for the training of the next generation of scientists.”

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