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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.”
SRC and Faculty of Law to re-open Student Court
2015-03-19

Front, from the left: Matshediso Tladi, Tumelo Lekhanya, Palesa Mafisa, Gabriel Dzeha, and; Back, from the left: Emmanuel Mashele, Johnny Davis, Shelton Mellentze and Marvin Odendaal |
The Student Representative Council, together with the Faculty of Law and the Department of Student Affairs, has re-established the Student Court. This body will operate as a student administrative organ of the university, exercising its disciplinary powers as assigned to it in terms of its constitution and institutional delegations.
The Student Court is an independent body that will exercise its legal powers impartially with the aim of establishing a student community and a student governance culture committed to justice, equity, and accountability. The Court will decide on matters between students, student associations, or any part of the student body at the student level.
Newly-appointed judges and clerks are currently undergoing training in preparation for the court sessions which will begin in the second semester of 2015. The student court judges for this year are as follow:
- Palesa Mafisa
- Gabriela Dzeha
- Marvin Odendaal
- Emmanuel Mashele
- Johnny Davis
- Shelton Mellentze
- MatshedisoTladi
The student court clerk is Tumelo Lekhanya.