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Peer mentor programme a space for student learning and development

20 March 2023 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Lunga Luthuli

Peer mentor support programme — Pictured are students who recently attended the peer mentor training programme for the 2023 Peer Mentor cohort on the Qwaqwa Campus.

Helping first-year students with the transition to a university environment, the University of the Free State (UFS) has been running the Peer Mentor Programme. Over more than a decade, it has grown by leaps and bounds, providing a socio-emotional space conducive to student learning, development, and success.

Previously known as the P3 Mentor Programme, which was only available to students on the Bloemfontein Campus, it has grown into an institutional programme that provides support to first-year students on all three UFS campuses.

Dr WP Wahl, Director: Student Life: Division of Student Affairs, said: “The biggest need observed was that first-year students find it hard to adjust to the university environment, and since its inception, this programme has provided significant support.” The first-year student cohort for 2023 had their first interaction with their peer mentors on Friday 10 March 2023.

To become a peer mentor, senior undergraduate students go through a rigorous selection and training process before serving in a mentor role, and must have an average of 60% in their studies.

Recently, the UFS trained more than 500 student peer mentors on the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa campuses to act as trusted confidants to first-year students on all three campuses, connecting them to resources and opportunities and acting as healthy role models.

“Peer mentors are also trained to co-create solutions with first-year students in response to their specific developmental needs. First-year students who join a peer mentor group also become part of a friendship circle,” added Dr Wahl.

Part of the Division of Student Affairs that students can look out for is Kovsie Support Services, where they can sign up for the Future Lead Challenge offered by the Student Leadership Development Office.

For student support, the Career Services Division also has a Career Development Programme, which helps students to think about and plan for their future careers.

News Archive

Regional Conference on Trafficking in Human Beings

2007-06-29

Trafficking in Human Beings:
National and International Perspectives

Date: 17th August 2007
Address: CR Swart Auditorium, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Every year thousands of children and adults become victims of trafficking and abuse in South Africa and throughout the southern African region. Victims are trafficked for a myriad of reasons: sexual exploitation, including prostitution and pornography; illegal labour, including child conscription; domestic servitude; illegal adoptions; body parts/organs; and forced marriages.

The Unit for Children’s Rights, Department of Criminal and Medical Law, University of the Free State (UFS), together with the Centre for Continuing Legal Education at UFS, will host a Regional Conference on Trafficking in Human Beings. The conference will bring together key role-players from the South African government as well as crucial international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the region.

Trafficking in human beings, especially women and children, is a serious violation of the human rights of the victims, as well as an extremely profitable source of income to organized crime, and needs the attention and intervention of both governmental and non-governmental institutions in South Africa.

Speakers will include representatives from the United National Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the South African Law Reform Commission, the Unit for Children’s Rights-UFS, and NGOs Molo Songololo and Terre Des Homes, that work with child trafficking victims in South Africa and around the world.

The media are invited to report on the conference, and interview speakers and presenters Attached find programme. For more info contact the following persons.

1. Beatri Kruger - 051 401 2108 / email: krugerh.rd@mail.ufs.ac.za
2. Susan Kreston - 051 401 9562 / email: krestons.rd@mail.ufs.ac.za
3. Elizabeth Snyman – 051 401 2268 / email: snymane.rd@mail.ufs.ac.za

Programme

Trafficking in human beings:
National & international perspectives

Presented by The Unit for Children’s Rights, Department Of Criminal & Medical Law , Faculty of Law, in Conjunction with The Centre for Continuing Legal Education, University of the Free State.

Funded through the Generosity of the United States Department of State

17 AUGUST, 2007 – CR SWART AUDITORIAM

8:00-8:30 Registration & Tea
8:30-8:45 Opening & Welcome
Prof. JJ Henning, Faculty of Law
8:45-9:40 Overview & Global Perspective
Prof. Susan Kreston - Unit for Children’s Rights, Faculty of Law-UFS

9:40-10:00 TEA

10:00-10:45 International Perspectives & the Role of Organized Crime in Trafficking
Wiesje Zikkenheiner, Associate Expert
United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime, Pretoria
10:45-11:45 Identifying and Assisting Victims of Trafficking
Marija Nikolovska, Project Officer
International Organization for Migration, Pretoria

11:45-12:30 LUNCH

12:30-1:15 Prosecuting Trafficking Without Trafficking Laws
Adv. Nolwandle Qaba, Sexual Offences & Community Affairs Unit
National Prosecuting Authority, Pretoria
1:15-2:15 Recommendations for New Legislation in South Africa
Lowesa Stuurman - South African Law Reform Commission, Pretoria

2:15-2:30 TEA

2:30-2:50 The Role of Terre Des Homes in Fighting Trafficking in Children
Judith Mthombeni– Terre Des Homes, Pretoria
2:50-3:50 Trafficking in Children in South Africa – A Front Line Perspective
Patrick Solomon - Molo Songololo, Cape Town
3:50-4:00 Closing Remarks
Adv. Beatri Kruger
Department of Criminal & Medical Law - UFS

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