Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
14 November 2023 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo SUPPLIED
Prof Frans Prinsloo
Prof Frans Prinsloo, the newly appointed Vice-Dean: Learning, Teaching, Innovation and Digitalisation in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the UFS.

The Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) at the University of the Free State (UFS) has appointed Prof Frans Prinsloo as the Vice-Dean: Learning, Teaching, Innovation, and Digitalisation. Prof Prinsloo officially started his new role on 1 November 2023. “I am excited at the prospect of being able to support the academics in the faculty, enabling them to develop successful graduates who will not only sustain themselves and their families, but who can also function in and contribute positively to a dynamic world being transformed by technology,” Prof Prinsloo indicated. 

What the new role entails

According to Prof Prinsloo, the role includes overseeing and providing strategic leadership regarding the teaching and learning portfolio within the faculty. The portfolio he is responsible for looks at teaching and learning policies as well as the development of new curricula in the faculty, among others. In addition, as part of his work, he indicated that, “I will also have to ensure that the faculty’s teaching approaches remain relevant and responsive to our diverse body of students’ learning needs to ensure their academic success, but also to develop essential graduate attributes.  A further focus will be that the curricula of our academic programmes position our graduates to be in demand by employers and enable them to contribute meaningfully to the economy and society.”

Furthermore, Prof Prinsloo is responsible for ensuring that the academic programmes within the faculty are of high quality and accredited by all relevant top industry bodies.

The future of the faculty 

As an Auditing academic for more than 25 years and Director of the UFS School of Accountancy for the past five years, Prof Prinsloo plans to use the experience he has acquired, as well as the leadership positions he has held throughout his career, to lead the faculty to new heights. “I look forward to positioning the UFS Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences as a faculty with effective and cutting-edge teaching approaches to ensure our students’ academic success, and to have quality and unique academic programmes that draw top students from across South Africa, Africa, and beyond – in line with the UFS Vision 130,” he said. 

In addition, part of what he aims to accomplish in his term as Vice-Dean is working to establish the faculty and its academics as recognised thought leaders and innovators as far as teaching and learning is concerned. Prof Prinsloo also highlighted that, “We also need to ensure that the successes attained by the faculty and its staff are shared within and outside of the UFS, and as such, I will also be responsible for strategically leading the marketing efforts of the faculty.” 

However, his efforts to advance the faculty are not only focused on the progress of the staff and their offerings, but also on that of the students. In fact, he indicated that, “I would also like to use this position to explore ways of further supporting our students, particularly recognising the multitude of challenges such as ineffective study skills, financial and mental wellness-related challenges that many of our students face.”

News Archive

Two Kovsies in action for SA Netball Team in Melbourne
2016-10-18

Description: Tanya Mostert Tags: Tanya Mostert

Tanya Mostert will play at senior level for
South Africa for the first time when she
represents the Proteas Fast5 Netball team.
Photo: Johan Roux

Two players from the University of the Free State (UFS) will represent the country in the Fast5 Netball World Series in Melbourne, Australia.
Tanya Mostert and Lauren-Lee Christians will turn out for the Protea Fast5 team on 29 and 30 October. Fast5 is the shorter and faster version of netball.
Mostert was the UFS captain during the Varsity Netball tournament this year, after taking over the reins from her older sister, Karla Mostert. Tanya has to pass a final fitness test since suffering an injury earlier.

Lauren-Lee will captain this team

Christians represented Kovsies before, but this year she was above age to play in the Varsity tournament again. She represented South Africa’s Fast5 team in 2013 and 2014, but will this time be leading her country as captain "Down Under". She also was vice-captain of the Free State Crinums who won the Brutal Fruit Premier League in 2016.
Besides Christians and Mostert, three former Kovsies are also included in the Fast5 Netball team taking part in Melbourne. They are Vanes-Mari du Toit, Marlize de Bruin, and Fikile Mkhuzangwe.

Four national captains from UFS
With Christians’ selection as Fast5 captain, she became the latest of four Kovsies to be chosen as a national netball captain. All four South African teams – the Proteas, Fast5, U21, as well as the South African Universities team, were captained by Kovsies this year.
Maryka Holtzhausen, former UFS captain and currently assistant coach at the university, led the Proteas before suffering a knee injury. Alicia Puren led the SA U21 team, and Karla Mostert was captain of the South African Universities team that won the World Student Games in Miami, in the USA.

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