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31 October 2023
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Story Mosa Mofokeng
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To inform, inspire, motivate, and connect!
These are the outcomes that the UFS Department of Alumni Relations wants to achieve through its Alumni Career Connect engagement series.
The series connects pre-alumni with leading alumni who have experience as leaders in various careers, entrepreneurship, personal and professional success.
The content and themes further aim to prepare pre-alumni for the world of work and life beyond graduation.
Dr Roy Jankielsohn is the Leader of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature and the DA Free State Provincial Leader. Formerly a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at UFS (1995-2000), he was a Member of Parliament (2000-2006) during which he served as the DA’s Spokesperson on Defence and Safety and Security (Policing).
Join us as we experience Dr Jankielsohn’s personal and professional success.
Date: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Time: 12:00 to 13:00
Venue: Multilingualism Building (Bloemfontein Campus) and Senate Hall (Qwaqwa Campus)
Kovsies still enjoy successful exchange opportunity
2010-08-25
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| Students Ian Botha, Lize Swart and SW Meintjies with Prof. Izak Groenewald (second from right) at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg upon the student’s recent departure to Virginia Tech. Photo: Supplied |
More than a decade ago, the then Chairperson of Free State Agriculture, Piet Gous, in collaboration with the then Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof. Piet Wilke, started an exchange initiative which still makes a difference to students’ lives today.
Students at the university get the opportunity to go and study at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg in the United States of America (USA) during the second semester. During the first semester the UFS then receive American students. Since its inception in 1998, 142 students have already participated in the exchange programme.
“It is not only about six months’ studies at an American university. It is about the expansion of horizons, the creation of new frames of reference and exposure to other cultures and customs in order to attain and experience more life capacity,” says Prof. Izak Groenewald, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development at the UFS. Prof. Groenewald has acted as coordinator of this student exchange programme since 1997.
According to Prof. Groenewald, the secret of the successful programme rests with the fact that Kovsies pay their tuition and accommodation fees at the UFS as if they were studying here. However, they enjoy the privileges at Virginia Tech. Similarly, the American students pay their corresponding fees at Virginia Tech and then enjoy the privileges offered by the UFS.