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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.”
Accreditation status of the UFS School of Medicine
2016-06-14
This communication is a factual correction of the misinformation and accompanying hysteria that appeared in a local newspaper this past week on the accreditation status of programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences’ School of Medicine. Here are the facts:
1. The flagship programme of the School of Medicine, the MB ChB, was fully accredited by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) through the year 2020. This is the maximum accreditation status that any programme can achieve, and the UFS leadership is extremely pleased with this outcome, as it expresses confidence in the work done by our academics in the School of Medicine. Not only was the basic medical training for new doctors fully accredited, the HPSCA approved an increase in the number of trainee doctors from 140 to 160, and also approved additional training sites in Trompsburg and Kimberley.
2. The honours programmes of the School of Medicine received full accreditation as well.
3. All the master’s degree programmes in the School of Medicine also received accreditation. The UFS is especially pleased with the significant improvements in the Department of Cardiology, which now has a full complement of staff under the leadership of the highly regarded cardiologist, Prof Makoali Makotoko.
4. Four master’s programmes received provisional accreditation, which means that (a) these programmes continue to be taught and (b) outstanding issues, such as inadequate staffing, must be fixed. It does not mean that these programmes will be or are likely to be discontinued.
5. It is a fact that staff retire or resign in all schools and departments of any university. It is also true that these departures offer opportunities to bring new academic and professional staff into the UFS. In fact, for the first time virtually every department in the School of Medicine now has a full-time Head of Department and 46 new staff were appointed since January 2015.
6. The main employer of academic staff in the School of Medicine is the provincial Department of Health (DoH), and the UFS works very closely and persistently with the Free State DoH to ensure that vacant posts are filled.
7. The attacks on the integrity of the outgoing Head of the School of Medicine were malicious. Prof Alan St Clair Gibson did not resign ‘overnight’; his departure has nothing to do with the accreditation status of the School – in fact, he can be proud of this achievement; and he effectively takes up a promotion post in New Zealand as academic Dean at the University of Waikato. Prof St Clair Gibson will be remembered for his leadership in transformation, especially regarding staff and student equity in the School of Medicine, and for securing our programme accreditation. For this, the university is deeply grateful.
Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27(0)51 401 2584 | +27(0)83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27(0)51 444 6393