Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
03 January 2023
|
Story Lacea Loader
|
Photo Evert Kleynhans
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.
UFS and National Museum sign memorandum of agreement
2006-08-31
A memorandum of agreement was signed between the University of the Free State (UFS) and the National Museum. In the agreement the two institutions give each other access to the education and research facilities of the other in the natural and humanities sciences. Although informal co-operation agreements have existed between the UFS and the National Museum for a while, this is the first time that a formal agreement was signed.

During the signing of the agreement were from the left: Mr Rick Nuttall (Director of the National Museum), Prof Magda Fourie (Vice-Rector: Academic Planning at the UFS), Ms Kelebone Mokuena (council member of the National Museum) and Rev Kiepie Jaftha (Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS and member of the National Museum's council). Photo: Lacea Loader