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25 October 2023 | Story Dr Kwazi Magwenzi | Photo supplied
SANRAL Chair launch
The SANRAL Chair in Mathematics and Science , Prof Loyiso Jita with the Programme graduates, the PhD and Masters SANRAL Alumni at the event held on 28 September 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The South African Chapter of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) Chair alumni programme at the University of the Free State (UFS) was recently launched at the Silverstar Hotel and Casino in Johannesburg. The event aimed to showcase and celebrate the achievements made and lessons learnt in the programme, highlight the key elements and outputs to the Faculty of Education stakeholders and reimagine the future. The Faculty of Education has increased its footprint in Engaged Scholarship activities, aligning itself with the UFS Vision 130. Multiple stakeholders and community partners were invited to witness the outstanding achievements of this programme.

Since its inception in 2014, the SANRAL Chair has produced over 40 PhD graduates in three countries, namely South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. One of the key goals of Vision 130 is for the UFS to be regionally engaged and to contribute to pressing societal needs. This involves knowledge generation that contributes to local and regional development and building sustainable partnerships. The PhD and Masters graduates have become a highly valued human resource in the South African education system and the region, and are now positioned as leaders in Institutions of higher learning in South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe.

The SANRAL Chair currently supervises a cohort of doctoral and master's students,  providing guidance in mathematical research and publications. The internship programme represents SANRAL's commitment to building skilled capacity in communities, along with driving social and economic transformation. SANRAL has also identified common challenges faced by Small, Medium, and Micro-sized Enterprises (SMMEs) in its projects and has implemented training programmes to address these issues. 

South Africa has implemented a range of programmes designed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDG 1), which includes land reform, agriculture, free higher education and growth. Despite the significant progress made on South Africa’s developmental journey since the advent of democracy in 1994, the country remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. Achieving the SDGs is, therefore, in South Africa’s best interest as the country pursues the vision of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, and prosperous nation living in harmony with itself and the rest of the world. 

As South Africa looks ahead to 2030, it seeks to build on the substantial progress achieved thus far, and on the robust policy, legislative, and planning foundation. The focus will be on consolidating and expanding the many areas where public welfare and development are at the forefront. 

News Archive

CDS receives another international grant from the NIH
2015-12-11

 

Dr Carla Sharp

The Centre for Development Support (CDS) is partner to another international research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States. The new project follows an earlier project funded by the NIH, which focused on the mental health of orphans and vulnerable children.

The new project is to focus on investigating possible improvements in the mental health and cognitive development of orphaned and vulnerable children aged between seven and eleven years, by means of improved community-based care in the Mangaung Township area in Bloemfontein.  The project will stretch over three years and has a budget of approximately R10 million.

“We shall use the Mediational Intervention of Sensitizing Caregivers (MISC) approach and it will be applied by community-based organisations,” says Dr Deidre van Rooyen, Acting Director of the CDS. 

MISC applied by caregivers has produced good results elsewhere in the world. “This is the first time MISC will be tested by community-based organisations,” says Prof Lochner Marais of the CDS, who is also the principal investigator in South Africa.

“In addition to working with four community-based organisations in Mangaung, Childline Free State will also be actively involved in the project,” Marais added.

The project is being conducted in collaboration with Dr Carla Sharp as principal investigator at the University of Houston, and Prof Michael Boivin (an international expert on MISC) at the Michigan State University. Dr Sharp was recently appointed visiting professor at the CDS. 

“It is indeed a great privilege to be working with the CDS on yet another project,” Dr Sharp remarked, also noting that “the project is preliminary in nature and could evolve into a much bigger research project in future”.

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