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UFS Student Governance Office announces 2023 CSRC Elections, 22-24 August

20 July 2023 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Supplied

Your vote counts — Exercise your right to vote in the 2023 SRC elections from 22 to 24 August. Student participation makes a difference.

The University of the Free State (UFS) Office for Student Governance has announced that the 2023 Campus Student Representative Council (SRC) elections will take place from 22 to 24 August 2023. This eagerly anticipated annual event is an opportunity for students to elect their representatives, ensuring that their voices are heard and that their interests are represented in the university community.

To facilitate a smooth election process, the UFS Elections Committee has scheduled indabas for 25 July 2023 on the Qwaqwa Campus, and for 27 July 2023 on the Bloemfontein and South campuses. The indabas are platforms providing students the opportunity to raise questions about the upcoming elections.

Dr Grey Magaiza, chairperson of the UFS Elections Logistics Committee (ELC), said: “SRC elections are a critical legislative requirement of the Higher Education Act 101 of 1997, which prescribes cooperative governance at universities. The student leaders who are chosen become critical mouthpieces for the rest of the student body in critical governance functions of the university. It is therefore very important for the student community to participate in elections and to choose their preferred candidates.”

Make your vote count

The ELC is encouraging all students to actively engage in the electoral process, either as candidates or voters. Running for a position in the SRC offers students a platform to make a meaningful impact on campus life, while casting their votes ensures that the elected representatives genuinely represent the interests of the student body.

In preparation for the upcoming elections, the ELC will provide information on candidate registration procedures, campaigning guidelines, and other pertinent details to facilitate a fair and transparent electoral process.

“Student politics can shape the student life dynamic on campus, hence it is a very important element in institutional governance. We look forward to positive campaigning and mature engagements among the candidates, and to the wonderful political behaviour that has become the norm in all UFS elections. This has become a rich tradition that UFS students have proudly held, and is becoming the envy of other institutions as well. Kudos to our UFS students,” remarked Dr Magaiza.

Election Indabas:

Qwaqwa Campus: 25 July 2023, 24-hour Study Centre, from 13:00 to 15:00
South Campus: 27 July 2023, Toka Residence Gazelle, from 10:00 to 12:00
Bloemfontein Campus: 27 July 2023, EXR 4, from 14:00 to 16:00

News Archive

Official opening: UFS earmarks R10-million to support national priorities

2006-02-06

The University of the Free State (UFS) is to align key areas of its academic and research efforts with national priorities through the introduction of five strategic clusters which would be funded by seedmoney of R10-million in 2006.

Speaking at the Official Opening of the UFS on Friday (3 February 2006), the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Frederick Fourie, said the academic and research work that will be done in the five strategic clusters would contribute to the development of Mangaung, the Free State, South Africa and Africa.

“It makes sense to concentrate the university’s human resources, our infrastructure, financial resources and intellectual expertise to ensure that the UFS makes a contribution to the country and the African continent,” Prof Fourie said.

“Strategic clusters will be organised on the basis that these areas of knowledge could become in the short term the flagships of the UFS, meaning those areas where the university currently has or in the very near future is likely to have some competitive advantage,” Prof Fourie said.

According to Prof Fourie, this strategic-cluster approach will be in line with the approach being designed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) to take national priorities into account and would enhance the quality of scholarship at the UFS.

The five strategic areas in which research and academic investment at the UFS will be clustered are the following:

Enabling technologies / Technology for the future;
Food production, quality and food security for Africa;
Development;
Social transformation;
Water resource and ecosystem management;

“Such strategic clusters are understood not only as research areas but as areas that also encompass strong undergraduate and particularly postgraduate teaching and a potentially solid scientific basis for service learning and community service research,” Prof Fourie said.

Within each of these clusters specific niche areas will be identified. Clusters could focus on one or more aspects of a particular discipline or could involve more than one discipline in researching a particular issue.

He said not all academic work and research being done at the UFS would be clustered in this way. Sufficient resources and support have been put in place for general research excellence in the past five years.

“Some of the spin-offs can have an important impact on industrial development, for example in the chemicals industry and may also create a basis for cooperation with provincial, national and international partners,” he said.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
5 February 2006

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