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06 November 2023 | Story MBALI MABOEA | Photo SUPPLIED
SSAG 2023
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.”

News Archive

Projects of the South Campus inspire excellence
2014-12-18

The University of the Free State’s (UFS’s) South Campus in Bloemfontein runs several projects to make a difference in the lives of learners and educators in the central region. These projects are based on the very essence of the UFS – to ‘inspire excellence, change lives’.

Three projects which have been very successful since the outset are the UFS Schools Partnership Project, the Family Math and Family Science Project and the Internet Broadcast Project.

The Schools Partnership Project attempts to empower teachers by improving their teaching skills in critical Gr 10 – Gr 12 subjects (Physical Science, Mathematics and Accounting).

Poorly performing schools are invited to join in the programme. A mentor, providing guidance to teachers in the planning of lessons, transferring knowledge and creating a healthy learning environment in the classroom, is assigned to each subject teacher. Management and leadership skills are also improved.

Hercules Dreyer, Programme Manager, says the success of the programme can be seen in the lessons, the results and the progress which have been made.

“In 2013, the pass rate of participating schools has grown from 71.5% to 85%. We had an increase in donors and the project went from 22 schools with 12 mentors in 2013 to 72 schools and 34 mentors in 2015.”

The UFS Family Math and Family Science Project, which is already in its sixth year of existence, are extremely popular. This intervention programme focus on bringing about a better understanding of Mathematics and Science in learners, teachers and parents.

Dr Cobus van Breda, Programme Director of the Family Math and Family Science Project, says that judging by the feedback from teachers, it is evident that the programme is growing from strength to strength and that it is making a real difference in Mathematics and Science education in the early school years.

The UFS’s Internet Broadcast Project (IBP) has thus far received four awards for their successes. In this project, lessons in Mathematics, Accounting and Physical Science are broadcasted from the UFS’s South Campus through internet presentations to schools in rural areas.

“To date, the IBP catalogue contains over 2 000 video lessons and in 2013 alone, the 68 schools accessed and used these videos 69 305 times. The project has the potential to reach more than 40 000 learners and 1 765 teachers every week,” says Sarietjie Musgrave, Project Manager.

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