Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
03 January 2023 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Evert Kleynhans
Dr Dolf van Niekerk
Dr Dolf van Niekerk.

The University of the Free State (UFS) would like to express its condolences to the family and friends of South African author, Dr Dolf van Niekerk, on his passing.

Dr Van Niekerk, the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the UFS, passed away on 31 December 2022. The UFS awarded a Doctor of Letters to Dr Dolf van Niekerk during its April 2021 graduation ceremony. 
 
Dr Van Niekerk was a celebrated author who also achieved fame as a dramatist and radio presenter. An alumnus of the UFS, he received a BA degree from the university cum laude in 1949. He also played a role in academia and was an emeritus professor at the University of Pretoria until his retirement in 1994. His work includes 27 books in philosophy, poetry, fiction, drama, and memoirs, for which he has received numerous awards. These include the Eugene Marais Prize, the MER Prize, and the Scheepers Award for Youth Literature.
 
“Dr van Niekerk is a Kovsie alumnus with a deep connection to the Free State. He played a significant role in the country’s literary history, and it was an honour for the university to award him with an honorary degree. A wordsmith of note, Dr van Niekerk’s contributions to South African literature, radio, and stage will live on," says Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

News Archive

Learning Afrikaans for foreign-language speakers
2009-02-17

Learning Afrikaans for foreign-language speakers

Staff Development of CHESD and the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, offers the following professional enrichment programme:

Learning Afrikaans for foreign-language speakers

The course start on Tuesday, 17 February 2009 (introductory meeting) at 17:00 in the Benito Khotseng Building, E-Learning Laboratory, room 107B. The contact time is two hours per week for ten weeks. Ms Ida Meiring, Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French will present the course. Contact her at x2816. The closing date is Wednesday, 16 February 2009.

Please confirm your attendance with Ms Clidean Swiegelaar at swiegcc@ufs.ac.za. For any enquiries regarding the course you can contact Prof. Angelique van Niekerk, Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at vnieka@ufs.ac.za or x2339/2816.

More information about the course is available at:

Would you like to learn to speak Afrikaans? Every semester the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French offers a very basic as well as a little more advanced CD-ROM course for foreign-language speakers who have little or no prior knowledge of Afrikaans. The duration of the course is ten weeks and classes usually take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Successful participants will receive a certificate. Use is made of Afrikaans language jokes and Afrikaans music in the course, which promotes self-activity. Contact Mrs I Meiring at meiringi@ufs.ac.za for enquiries.

The course and CD are offered free of charge to staff members who enrol, whilst persons who are not employed by the university pay R800 per course.

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