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#YouthMonth: Celebrating youth empowerment (Refiloe Shedile)

29 June 2023 | Story Refiloe Shedile | Photo Supplied

The University of the Free State (UFS) is celebrating Youth Month by showcasing the positive influence of the institution on career development. As part of this initiative, we are sharing the stories of UFS alumni who are now working at the university.

Refiloe Shedile, Online Assessment Coordinator in the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), shares her UFS journey:

Q: Year of graduation from the UFS:

A: I completed my undergraduate degree in 2015, followed by my honours degree in 2016.

Q: Qualification obtained from the UFS:

A: My first qualification was a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. After that, I pursued a Bachelor of Commerce Honours qualification with specialisation in Industrial Psychology.

Q: Date of joining the UFS as a staff member:

A: I started my journey as a staff member at the UFS through an internship programme in the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) on 1 June 2017.

Q: Initial job title and current job title:

A: My internship focused on technology in teaching and learning, specifically working with assessments on the Questionmark platform. After the internship, I was appointed as an assistant officer in CTL’s Writing Centre (Unit for Language Development); however, I only held this position for four months before there was an opportunity to move back to the division in which I completed my internship. In October 2018, I rejoined the online assessment team as the Questionmark Coordinator and have been working in this role ever since.

Q: How did the UFS prepare you for the professional world?

A: There are numerous initiatives offered by the university that prepared me for the world of work, i.e. the onboarding and new staff orientation sessions conducted by HR; my department also gave me a clear understanding of my individual and team responsibilities, the divisional procedures and culture, and how our work contributed to the larger institutional mission and vision. I was well supported in the team and provided with the necessary resources to excel in my role. Moreover, CTL’s environment enabled me to build strong social connections that continue to be invaluable.

Q: What are your thoughts on transitioning from a UFS alumnus to a staff member?

A: Transitioning from being a UFS alumnus to a staff member was an exciting experience. There was an initial adjustment period to adapt to a nine to five routine; however, I was fortunate enough to join an amazing team led by an inspiring mentor/ line manager. As a Kovsie, you get to develop valuable skills such as optimism, hard work, and resilience; these skills were essential to thrive within the university’s fast-paced environment. Additionally, I believe that being familiar with the UFS environment and culture made it easy for me to better understand and cater for the needs of the students, drawing on my own experiences as a former student. This enabled me to perform my job diligently and effectively.

Q: Any additional comments about your experience?

A: One of my favourite moments about becoming a UFS staff member was the opportunity to work with some of my former lecturers. It was an intriguing experience, being on the other side now, shifting my perspective and seeing them as colleagues rather than just lecturers. This shift in dynamics added a special aspect to my overall experience at the university.

News Archive

Moeletsi Mbeki discusses South Africa’s political economy

2012-08-17

At the guest lecture was, from the left: Johann Rossouw, lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Mr. Moeletsi Mbeki, and Prof. Pieter Duvenage, Head of the Department of Philosophy.
Photo: Johan Roux
17 August 2012

South Africa’s ongoing problems do not have their origin in the apartheid dispensation but in the British colonial period. This is according to the well known businessman and political analyst, Mr Moeletsi Mbeki, who was speaking during a guest lecture at the University of the Free State.

Mr Mbeki said the high unemployment rate among Blacks arose from the destruction of the Black small farming class in the last third of the 19th century to provide cheap labour to the developing mining sector. He said the notorious Land Act of 1913 was not the root of Black people’s loss of land but merely the legal formalisation thereof. Mr Mbeki emphasised that as long as it was argued that South Africa’s problems arose during the apartheid dispensation, problems would remain unsolved.

Regarding South Africa’s future, Mr Mbeki argued that three issues in particular were important – South Africa’s industrialisation, which ground to a halt in the 1970s, should be revived; the large scale training of industrialists with special emphasis on mathematics, science and the broader education system; and post-nationalist politics, of which parties such as Zimbabwe’s MDC, Zambia’s MMF and Mauritius’s MMM were outstanding examples.

The guest lecture was presented by the Department of Philosophy. More than 200 people attended the lecture and participated enthusiastically in the question and answer session. Afterwards, Mr Mbeki said he was impressed with the high level of the questions asked by students, which he said gave him hope for South Africa’s future.

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