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06 November 2023
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Story MBALI MABOEA
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Photo SUPPLIED
The Department of Geography on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus recently played host to the Society of South African Geographers Conference (SSAG 2023), which gathered more than 100 students over three days.
Fostering academic growth, collaboration, and inspiration among students and researchers in the field of geography, the Department of Geography on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus recently played host to the Society of South African Geographers Conference (SSAG 2023), which gathered more than 100 students over three days.
Following a five-year hiatus, the three-day conference comprised student proposal presentations in different fields: human geography, environment geography, geoinformatics, and physical geography, divided into breakaway sessions over two days. Furthermore, day three of the annual conference included an excursion to the Basotho Cultural Village and Clarens.
The three-day annual student conference focused on different themes presented by two main speakers. The topic of the first keynote speaker, Dr Mahlomola Daemane, General Manager of the SANParks Arid Research Unit, focused on the contemporary conservation, transition, and relevance of science in policy and decision making.
The second keynote speaker was Dr Felicia Akinyemi, a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow affiliated with the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern in Switzerland. Her work focuses on the intersection of geoinformatics, global change, and sustainability. Dr Akinyemi focused her talk on the integrative geospatial methods and metrics for sustainable land use. She introduced different techniques and metrics and gave students insight in early-career African research.
Speaking about the success of the conference, Nthebohiseng Sekhele, Geography Lecturer on the Qwaqwa Campus and chair of the organising committee, said, “The local organising committee was also very impressed with the quality of presentations from our postgraduate students in Geography, as well as the robust discussions that happened during the parallel sessions in the two days of the conference. We had a positive response of physical and online participation from many universities across South Africa. We are pleased that we have achieved our goal with this conference, which is to inspire the next generation of geographers.”
US Consul-General learns about transformation at the UFS
2011-11-11
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A delegation from the US consulate came to learn more about our transformation initiatives and the Leadership for Change programme. From the left are: Prof. Aldo Stroebel, Director of International Academic Projects in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor; Mrs Dineo Gaofhiwe-Ingram, Assistant-Director: International Affairs; Mr Earl Miller, US Consul-General; and Mr Rudi Buys, Dean of Student Affairs.
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When others visit our university to learn more about our transformation initiatives, we certainly are on the right track.
Mr Earl Miller, Consul-General at the United States Consulate in Johannesburg, paid our university a visit as part of his orientation trip to the Free State.
Mr Miller, who was accompanied by two senior colleagues from his office, was interested to learn more about our university’s initiatives relating to transformation, the Leadership for Change programme and the work done at the International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice.
He met with some of the students who had recently returned from the USA and Europe to reflect on their experiences on the programme and expressed his appreciation for the initiative, since it also afforded American students an opportunity to learn from their South African peers.