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01 November 2023 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Francois van Vuuren
UFS empowers through Human Settlements Training Programme
At the graduation ceremony for the Free State Provincial Department of Human Settlements, were from the left, front: Caren Somiah, Director: Housing Capacity, Building and Partnerships in the Free State Department of Human Settlements; Kagisho Motlhanke, Housing Coordinator at the Mangaung Metro; back: Thomas Stewart, Senior Lecturer in the UFS Department of Urban and Regional Planning; Dr Kgosi Mocwagae, Head of the UFS Department of Urban and Regional Planning; Adv Moferefere Dhlamini, Chief of Staff in the Office of the MEC; Sello Senoge, Matjhabeng Municipality; and Cyril Monyela, Deputy Director-General in the Free State Department of Human Settlements.

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted a certification ceremony for the Free State Provincial Department of Human Settlements on the Bloemfontein Campus on 30 October 2023.

A group of 40 officials from municipalities and the Provincial Department of Human Settlements were awarded certificates for completing four short learning programmes (SLPs) in Human Settlements, offered by the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. The training was conducted between November 2022 and May 2023.

Sustainable human settlements

“The overall aim of this training was to equip the participants to play a constructive role in human settlements in their respective places of employment,” said Dr Kgosi Mocwagae, Head of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the UFS. 

This is in line with the mission of the department to deliver – through excellent teaching and scholarship – competent urban and regional planners who will contribute to the creation of sustainable human settlements and improve the quality of life, particularly in Africa.

Dr Mocwagae reflected on the training presented, stating that it aimed to achieve several key objectives, including enhancing participants' understanding of the institutional framework governing the development and management of human settlements. It also sought to nurture a sensitivity to the principles of sustainable human settlement development, considering factors such as climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), local legislation, and best practices. Additionally, the training placed significant emphasis on the importance and processes involved in upgrading informal settlements. Furthermore, it aimed to empower participants with the necessary skills to structure a proposal for the enhancement of informal settlements within the current legislative and administrative frameworks applicable in South Africa.

Building capacity

Cyril Monyela, the Deputy Director General in the Free State Department of Human Settlements, delivered the keynote address, congratulating the cohort of officials on their remarkable achievement.

In his address, he referred to the various pieces of legislation that have emerged over the years and emphasised the need for capacity to implement human settlement sector programmes, ensuring that millions of informal households in South Africa have access to decent shelter. Enhancing sector capacity by developing the skills of staff is one of the department's primary institutional objectives.

“It is the first of many skills courses designed to enable and ensure that practitioners in the Free State Department of Human Settlements execute the department’s mandate,” he stated.

The event concluded with an address from Advocate Shirly Hyland, Director of the Kovsie Phahamisa Academy. According to her, it is important to remember where one comes from, but it is also key to focus on our future. “Witnessing plans that originated in the 1950s coming to fruition, while not perfect yet, is encouraging and instils hope in South Africans regarding the progress being made,” she remarked. 

Adv Hyland referenced a quote from a corporate giant, ‘You are not your work, and your work is not you.’ “For you, this is not the case. Those of you who work in human settlements – your work literally follows you home. Human settlements affect every person from every sphere of life. The right to adequate housing is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, and with the expertise you have learned in these programmes, you have been equipped with the knowledge and power to bring this human right to life.”

“In completing this short learning programme, you have been entrusted with a critical task. You get to contribute to an environment in which citizens live and thrive. The environment where a veggie garden can feed a community; the environment in which the Protea or Bafana Bafana national teams can nurture their talents; and the environment in which the leaders of tomorrow are born and raised,” she said. 

In her final remarks, Adv Hyland referred to a quote from former President Nelson Mandela about education being the most powerful weapon one can use to change the world. “And this is exactly what you are doing. You have worked hard,” she said, urging the group of practitioners to change the world, one human settlement at a time. 

News Archive

MBA Programme - Question And Answer Sheet - 27 May 2004
2004-05-27

1. WHAT MUST THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE (UFS) DO TO GET FULL ACCREDITATION FOR THE MBA PROGRAMMES?

According to the Council on Higher Education’s (CHE) evaluation, the three MBA programmes of the UFS clearly and significantly contribute to students’ knowledge and skills, are relevant for the workplace, are appropriately resourced and have an appropriate internal and external programme environment. These programmes are the MBA General, the MBA in Health Care Management and the MBA in Entrepreneurship.

What the Council on Higher Education did find, was a few technical and administrative issues that need to be addressed.

This is why the three MBA programmes of the UFS received conditional accreditation – which in itself is a major achievement for the UFS’s School of Management, which was only four years old at the time of the evaluation.

The following breakdown gives one a sense of the mostly administrative nature of the conditions that have to be met before full accreditation is granted by the CHE:

a. A formal forum of stakeholders: The UFS is required to establish a more structured, inclusive process of review of its MBA programmes. This is an administrative formality already in process.

b. A work allocation model: According to the CHE this is required to regulate the workload of the teaching staff, particularly as student numbers grow, rather than via standard management processes as currently done.

c. Contractual agreements with part-time staff: The UFS is required to enter into formal agreements with part-time and contractual staff as all agreements are currently done on an informal and claim-basis. This is an administrative formality already in process.

d. A formal curriculum committee: According to the CHE, the School of Management had realised the need for a structure – other than the current Faculty Board - where all MBA lecturers can deliberate on the MBA programmes, and serve as a channel for faculty input, consultation and decision-making.

e. A system of external moderators: This need was already identified by the UFS and the system is to be implemented as early as July 2004.

f. A compulsory research component: The UFS is required to introduce a research component which will include the development of research skills for the business environment. The UFS management identified this need and has approved such a component - it is to take effect from January 2005. This is an insufficient element lacking in virtually all MBA programmes in South Africa.

g. Support programmes for learners having problems with numeracy: The UFS identified this as a need for academic support among some learners and has already developed such a programme which will be implemented from January 2005.

The majority of these conditions have been satisfied already and few remaining steps will take effect soon. It is for this reason that the UFS is confident that its three MBA programmes will soon receive full accreditation.

2. WHAT ACCREDITATION DOES THE UFS HAVE FOR ITS MBA PROGRAMME?

The UFS’s School of Management received conditional accreditation for its three MBA programmes.

Two levels of accreditation are awarded to tertiary institutions for their MBA programmes, namely full accreditation and conditional accreditation. When a programme does not comply with the minimum requirements regarding a small number of criteria, conditional accreditation is given. This can be rectified during the short or medium term.

3. IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE ACADEMIC CORE OF THE UFS’s MBA PROGRAMMES?

No. The UFS is proud of its three MBA programmes’ reputation in the market and the positive feedback it receives from graduandi and their employers.

The MBA programmes of the UFS meet most of the minimum requirements of the evaluation process.

In particular, the key element of ‘teaching and learning’, which relates to the curriculum and content of the MBA programmes, is beyond question. In other words, the core of what is being taught in our MBA programmes is sound.

4. IS THE UFS’s MBA A WORTHWHILE QUALIFICATION?

Yes. Earlier this year, the School of Management – young as it is - was rated by employers as the best smaller business school in South Africa. This was based on a survey conducted by the Professional Management Review and reported in the Sunday Times Business Times, of 25 January 2004.

The UFS is committed to maintaining these high standards of quality, not only through compliance with the requirements of the CHE, but also through implementing its own quality assurance measures.

Another way in which we benchmark the quality of our MBA programmes is through the partnerships we have formed with institutions such as the DePaul University in Chicago and Kansas State University, both in the US, as well as the Robert Schuman University in France.

For this reason the UFS appreciates and supports the work of the CHE and welcomes its specific findings regarding the three MBA programmes.

It is understandable that the MBA review has caused some nervousness – not least among current MBA students throughout the country.

However, one principle that the UFS management is committed to is this: preparing all our students for a world of challenge and change. Without any doubt the MBA programme of the UFS is a solid preparation.

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