Latest News Archive

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

Embracing diversity, strengthening human relationships and collective responsibility

22 March 2023 | Story Mariette Joubert | Photo Unsplash

South Africa celebrated Human Rights Day and World Social Work Day on 21 March 2023. Social work is a profession that advocates for the human rights of people as well as focuses on the responsibility that comes with these rights. Just as the Bill of Rights is the cornerstone of democracy and protects our rights, the social work code of ethics is the cornerstone that ensures quality social work services.

The University of the Free State (UFS) second-year social work students took an oath on 22 March which binds them to the social work code of ethics. Social workers have the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development which consists of four pillars. Focus is drawn to the last pillar, Strengthening Recognition of the Importance of Human Relationships. Human relationships are the core of social work and social development. These relationships take various forms, including social, personal, interpersonal, and therapeutic relationships, among various people and in various settings. In relationships where people flourish, trust is crucial. In contrast, mistrust skews relationships in a negative way.

Respecting diversity through joint social action

The Ubuntu pan-African philosophical framework is the greatest place to understand the significance of human relationships. To promote and strive for the strengthening of relationships, this year’s theme for Social Work Day is “Respecting Diversity Through Joint Social Action”. If we can stop criticising people that do not live, believe, or think according to our constructed standards of being, we will be able to do so much more as humanity. If we start embracing peoples’ diversities and take time to start building relationships with various people and bridge any existing gaps, we will realise that diversity is an integral aspect of changing the world in a positive manner. Corresponding to human rights and the theme of World Social Work Day, is the theme “Destigmatising intellectual disability through shifting attitudes” for Intellectual Disability Awareness Month [IDAM] which also takes place later in March. Another way through which we can start building relationships and embrace diversity is by participating in this year’s South African Federation for Mental Health challenge where CEOs of different institutions are challenged to spend one day in a wheelchair as part of an awareness-raising campaign to destigmatise intellectual disabilities.

News Archive

UFS makes history as a second researcher – Prof Melanie Walker – receives NRF A-rating

2014-12-03

Prof Melanie Walker
Photo: Sonia Small

Prof Melanie Walker, Senior Research Professor at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development (CRHED) has received an A1 rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF). This rating acknowledges Prof Walker as a leading international researcher – her work unequivocally recognised by peers world-wide for its high quality and wide impact.

This is the first time in our institution’s history that two A-ratings are awarded simultaneously. Prof Maxim Finkelstein from the Department of Mathematical Statistics also recently received an A2-rating in Probability and Statistics from the NRF.

“Achieving this outstanding rating,” Prof Walker says, “is not just an individual achievement. I have had tremendous personal support and rich intellectual collaborations from wonderful colleagues on the way. The award also recognises the Rector’s project to build a dynamic research culture at UFS.”

Prof Walker has been researching and writing about issues in education and higher education for over 20 years. In particular she is interested in opportunities into, through and beyond education across dimensions of dis/advantage, and how higher education contributes to building a decent society by removing inequalities in its own policies and processes.

Through her focus on capacity building – around the common theme of higher education, human development and social justice – Prof Walker is developing a dynamic cohort of new-generation scholars. Her research group of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows is drawn from countries not only in Africa, but as far afield as Finland, India and Vietnam.

Her networks attract international scholars to the UFS, who contribute to research projects, engage graduate students, and add a considerable contribution to research at our university.

In addition, Prof Walker fulfils a host of roles, which includes:

• Tier One National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in Higher Education and Human Development.
• Vice-President of the international Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA).
• Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
• Honorary professor, University of Nottingham, UK.

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