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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)
Largest group on African continent introduced to Sign Language
2016-07-05
The introduction of basic Sign Language
as part of the UFS101 course was a great
success. From left are Susan Lombaard,
Annemarie le Roux, Tshisikhawe Dzivhani
(all from the Department of South African
Sign Language), and Lauren Oosthuizen
(UFS101). Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
As a result of a new initiative at the University of the Free State (UFS), the largest group of students on the African continent took part in a first-year seminar which included Sign Language.
A total of 5400 students on the Bloemfontein Campus and 1000 on Qwaqwa Campus were taught basic Sign Language by Susan Lombaard, Acting Head of the Department of South African Sign Language, and her team members, Tshisikhawe Dzivhani, Annemarie le Roux, and Nicolene de Klerk.
It forms part of the UFS101 module presented to all first-year students. The initiative, begun in the first semester of 2016, will form part of UFS101 in future and was met with an overwhelmingly positive response.
Three segments of course
Sign Language was taught in three segments and positioned as large-class learning experiences in the Callie Human Centre (Bloemfontein Campus) and the Nelson Mandela Hall (Qwaqwa Campus). Students were taught about deaf culture, Sign Language theory, as well as how to sign their names, exchange pleasantries, and have a basic conversation.
A valuable skill to have
“It (the Sign Language experience) was very interesting and helpful,” said one of the students. “It is important to have the ability to communicate with all sorts of people, and to be able to help them in a crisis”. According to another, it sparked an interest in Sign Language. “It is a skill I will continue to use and try to learn more from it,” said a third.
Lombaard – in collaboration with the UFS101 team – will be presenting a paper related to this achievement at the DeafNet Africa Conference in Johannesburg, from 26 to 30 September 2016.