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03 March 2023 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Stephen Collett
Prof Francis Petersen_ UFS Official Opening 2023
Prof Francis Petersen outlined the strategic intent of Vision 130 during his official welcoming address.

The trajectory to 2034, when the university turns 130, is not a dream, but an exciting journey that we are working towards achieving. Painting a picture of the university of the future, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, welcomed staff in his official opening speech on the Bloemfontein Campus on Friday 17 February 2023.

2023 marks the starting point of Vision 130, a vision with bold ambitions that will lead us to the renewal, re-imagining, and repositioning of the UFS in 2034, Prof Petersen said.  “We are building on our strengths, achievements, and learnings of our past and, in particular, the past five years. The vision is driven by excellence, and we won’t compromise excellence. It is about excellence, but it is also about visibility as an institution, and it is about impact.”

What does the UFS look like in 2034?

Prof Petersen said ours will be a university of choice for exceptional students, exceptional academics, and exceptional support staff. We will be recognised and acknowledged by peers and society as a top-tier university in South Africa, specifically among the top five universities in South Africa and the top 600 globally.

“Remember, I said we have built on the past, specifically the past five years, to give us a foundation. Still, we need to use that foundation to be able to deliver those specific goals or activities or deliverables that we want to achieve. We will have to start now if we want to achieve this in 2034.”

The Rector outlined four goals towards achieving these commitments:

• Improving academic excellence, improving our reputation, and improving our impact.

• Promoting an environment of agility, flexibility, and responsiveness.

• Advancing a transformational institutional culture that demonstrates the values of the University of the Free State – a place where ideas are discussed, contested, improved, and implemented in a culture of civil, robust engagement.

• Promoting stewardship and the prioritisation of institutional resources for strategic intent, which include our people, our staff, and our students.

Understand how your space is connected to Vision 130

“This is about creating a culture of delivery and empowering everyone within the University of the Free State and the UFS community to contribute to the realisation of Vision 130. This is what I am asking of you within your own sphere of operation. I am asking for a renewed commitment from you to own that space that you operate in. To understand how your space is connected to Vision 130 and to share what I would call an unrelenting ambition to deliver on this vision.”

Watch recording of the 2023 Official Opening below:


News Archive

Art and science help us understand the world and our place in it
2017-10-28



Description: Art and science  Tags: Art and science

At the event were, from the left: Tristan Nel, first-year Fine Arts student;
Dr Janine Allen-Spies from the Department of Fine Arts;
Prof Carlien Pohl-Albertyn from the Department of Microbiology,
Biochemical and Food Biotechnology; and Pheny Mokawane, a
Microbiology, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology student.
Photo: Charl Devenish

Although BioArt dates back as far as the 15th and 16th centuries with the work of Leonardo da Vinci, it is not every day that art and science combine. This rare phenomenon made its appearance when two totally different groups of students – studying arts and microbiology respectively – joined hands in an initiative to create BioArt.

This first-time undergraduate teaching collaboration between the Departments of Fine Arts and Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the University of the Free State (UFS), which is characterised by the use of living materials, such as enzymes, microbes and DNA, as well as scientific tools and methods, is exploring a number of questions. 

Different outcomes for arts and microbiology students

According to Prof Carlien Pohl-Albertyn from the Department of Microbiology, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, one of the central questions explored in BioArt is the nature of ‘life’. “At which stage can matter be classified as being alive or living?” she asked. 

“We realised that the outcomes for the two groups of students would not be the same. For the microbiology students, the focus would be on the understanding and effective communication of a microbiological concept. For the art students the focus would be on the execution of the assignment using visual elements and applied theory of art,” said Prof Pohl-Albertyn.

Dr Janine Allen-Spies from the Department of Fine Arts added: “Art students will also be exploring strangely or previously unforeseen gaps between art and science that can be filled with imaginative interpretations which may forward creative insights in both BioArt as a developing art form and microbiology as investigative science.”

Students’ understanding of microbial evolution reflected in art
The art students had to visit the microbiology labs for their assignment as this is mostly a foreign environment for these students. “The paint medium they had to use was gouache. This medium with its bright colours works well to depict microscopic organisms in art,” Dr Allen-Spies said. 

On display at the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology on the Bloemfontein Campus, at a recent event to introduce this new initiative to a wider audience, was a range of visually and scientifically compelling paintings and artefacts (such as paintings, poems, songs, apps) which explore a theme within microbiology from a BioArt perspective that uses creativity to communicate concepts dealt with in the module Microbial Evolution and Diversity.

Any parties who are interested in buying the art can contact Dr Allen-Spies at allenj@ufs.ac.za.

Paintings and artefacts reflects students understanding of BioArt. At the recent opening of the BioArt exhibition at the UFS Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, was the work of Madeleen Jansen van Rensburg on display.

Pheny Mokawane, a Microbiology, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology student, wrote a poem for his BioArt project in the Microbial Evolution and Diversity assignment. 

 

 

 

 

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