Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
29 March 2023
|
Story Samkelo Fetile
|
Photo Simba Matema
From left to right: Prof Jean Bernard Lekana-Douki, Director General at the CIRMF; Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS; and Prof Jean-Fabrice Yala, Scientific and Technical Director at the CIRMF.
The University of the Free State (UFS) recently welcomed senior members from the International Centre for Medical Research in Franceville (CIRMF), Gabon to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two entities.
CIRMF is a non-profit medical research centre that was established in 1974. Its primary focus is on diagnosing infectious diseases that pose immediate problems in Gabon and the Central African sub-region. The centre is dedicated to improving public health through various initiatives, including the training of Gabonese health executives in doctoral and post-doctoral education.
“The signing of the MoU with CIRMF is a step in the right direction as the UFS continues to strengthen its footprint on the African Continent. This is seminal in driving the university’s internationalisation processes and opening an avenue to expanding research networks, especially in the African continent,” said Bonolo Makhalemele, Coordinator of strategic projects at the Office for International Affairs, UFS.
In the interest of developing broader research collaborations, the CIRMF delegation met with some UFS academics in a series of engagements, particularly in the Health Sciences Faculty and the Natural and Agricultural Sciences Faculty. “The integration of knowledge and practices that emanate from the continent provides opportunities for the co-creation of knowledge that can be shared with the rest of the world,” said Kagiso Ngake, Coordinator for Partnerships, Collaborative Degrees, and Outgoing Mobility at the Office for International Affairs, UFS.
A concrete roadmap was established to formalise the collaborations that resulted from these engagements and will commence as soon as April 2023. “We have laid a solid foundation and are on the way to a strong and rich partnership!” exclaimed Prof Jean Bernard Lekana-Douki, Director General at the CIRMF.
Prof Francis Petersen, Rector, and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, further highlighted how the newly established partnership with the CIRMF aligns with the mandate of the UFS Vision 130 of expanding the UFS Africa research network.
Faculty of Law bids farewell to Prof. Andries Raath
2012-11-27
 |
Prof. Andries Raath and some of his colleagues during his farewell held in the Bobbert Room of the CR Swart Building. From the left are: Prof. Loot Pretorius, Dr Ilse Keevy, Prof. Andries Raath, Prof. Johan Henning and Prof. Gerhard Fick.
Photo: Christiaan van der Merwe
27 November 2012 |
The Faculty of Law had to bid farewell to another stalwart in Prof. Andries Raath last week. Prof. Raath retired after more than 30 years of service to the university. Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law, described it as a day of “great personal sadness” due to the loss of a person who had made such a tremendous impact in the faculty, both at a personal and an academic level.
Prof. Raath was praised for his academic prowess and relationship with students who referred to him as a “real professor”, and doctoral students who often saw him as a father figure. For his part, the avid Anglo-Boer War buff thanked long-time as well as newer colleagues, whom he said had all left an imprint on him in some way or another. He urged his former colleagues to maintain the “precious academic heritage” of the faculty, in which his personal career also had numerous highlights.