Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Student centered community engagement programmes

01 June 2023 | Story Nicole Bongo | Photo Supplied

To help make a change and push for sustainable development, the University of the Free State Division of Student Affairs works with communities around Bloemfontein fostering a culture of creating sustainable solutions.

Gernus Terblanche, Kovsie Support Services and Assistant Researcher in the Division says, ‘it is important for the university to be actively involved in the community as it makes up such a large portion of the Bloemfontein and students also represent many different communities on and off- campus.’

Terblanche said: “As an educational institution it is vital for the UFS to support and guide students towards creating innovative solutions; both local and globally. Our experience is that students often come up with real solutions that can make a real impact in the lives of real people – and it would be crucial to support such initiatives.”

The office has worked with BloemShelter, VermiVillage, GAP Equip, National Hospital and as part of the programmes of 2022 also with Lighuis, Talita Cumi, ROC Kids and the Universitas Neighborhood association. “We are also very fortunate to have, Shanen Emam, Miss Free State 2023 as one of our students that are involved with our programmes,” added Terblanche.

One of the students involved is Prince Sijane, Bloemfontein Campus Student Representative Council member responsible for Civic and Social Responsibility when asked why student participation is important, he said, “By actively participating in initiatives that address social issues or promote community well-being, students become more aware of the challenges faced by society.”

The Division of Student Affairs’ KovsieACT office is also in partnership with the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development) and the Faculty of Health Sciences (Department of Nutrition and Dietetics) to develop and maintain vegetable gardens.

Tereblanche said: “The produce of these gardens addresses hunger and malnutrition amongst students on campus. KovsieACT also facilitates an eco-vehicle project during which student teams learn how to build electric vehicles powered by solar charging stations. This project is aimed at developing skills appropriate to the 4th Industrial Revolution and sustainable resources development including clean and green energy.”

News Archive

Another boost for sport at the UFS

2005-10-13

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has officially appointed Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd, which has former Springbok rugby captain Morné du Plessis as managing director, to manage its Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Services (CESSS) on the Bloemfontein campus.

According to Prof Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Academic Operations, the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is another step in the implementation of the UFS’s wide-ranging sport strategy to improve sport facilities and elevate formerly marginalized sports such as soccer, hockey, netball, tennis etc.

Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is the manager of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and coordinates and manages the national basketball high-performance programme of SA Basketball, as well as the Boxing Academy on behalf of Boxing South Africa.

“It is also actively involved with the sports plans of several tertiary institutions like that of the University of Johannesburg and the University of Stellenbosch,” said Prof Verschoor.

“Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was also appointed by the Ministry of Sport and Recreation to manage the allocation of sports codes to high-performance centres and to oversee the allocation of monies received from the National Lottery to these centres – this includes the CESSS at the UFS,” Prof Verschoor added.

In unfolding its national sports plan, the Ministry of Sport and Recreation has already identified the UFS-based CESSS as the high-performance testing centre for the national basketball teams whilst the national boxing teams are also earmarked to be trained at the UFS.

“We are glad to be associated with a company of this stature and look forward to work with them in the further development of sports at the UFS,” said Prof Verschoor.

According to Prof Verschoor, the CESSS will act as a centralised body that is responsible for the coordination and management of joint initiatives between professional service providers, research projects and KovsieSport.

“The centre will also coordinate and manage joint initiatives between various academic programmes in different academic subject fields such as sports medicine, bio kinetics, physiotherapy, dietetics, etc. ,” said Prof Verschoor.

These initiatives will help the UFS to become a centre and catalyst of sports development, to become internationally recognised in the field of exercise and sports science research and to become a centre for high quality sports performance enhancement.

Some of the objectives of the CESSS are:

To provide sports science services like to athletes, students, the general public and other stakeholders including certain national sport teams.
To provide the necessary teaching and training facilities and internship opportunities for UFS students in sports related fields of study will also be provided by the centre like human movement science.
To present skills-transfer programmes directed at the broader community like development of skills in various sporting codes.
To continue and extend the current chronic risk reversal programmes presented by the Department of Human Movement Science such as obesity management, cardiac rehabilitation and other lifestyle related conditions.

The centre was founded in 2003 and was until now managed by Dr Louis Holtzhausen, from Kovsie Health and a consultant, Dr Gary Vorster.

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed today by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The manager of the centre appointed by Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is Mr Charles Store, an alumnus of the UFS, previously employed at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town and by the SANDF at 3 Military Hospital, Bloemfontein.

Media release
Issued by: Anton Fisher
Director: Strategic Communication
072-207-8334
12 October 2005

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

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