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Prof Paul Oberholster
Prof Paul Oberholster, newly appointed Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has appointed Prof Paul Oberholster as Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences as of 1 January 2024. 

Strong networks and winner of prestigious awards for research, innovation, and leadership 

Prof Oberholster is currently the Director: Centre for Environmental Management at the UFS. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the UFS before obtaining a PhD in water resource management at the University of Pretoria. 

After several years in secondary education, Prof Oberholster started his scientific research career as a Senior Scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 2007. In 2017, he became a Chief Scientist (the highest scientific position at the CSIR, and senior management) managing large multidisciplinary projects on the African continent related to integrated water resource management and natural-based treatment solutions/ecological engineering. 

During his time at the CSIR, he acted as extraordinary professor and lecturer in several academic departments at different institutions, including Stellenbosch University, the University of Pretoria, and the University of the Western Cape. During the same time, he received several prestigious awards for research, innovation, and leadership. 

In 2019, Prof Oberholster joined the UFS as Director of the Centre for Environmental Management and also received the National Science and Technology Foundation (NSTF) award in the category Water Research Commission, with a focus on natural-based passive phyco-remediation and phytoremediation treatment technology. In 2022, he was elected as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in recognition of his academic achievements in South Africa, and in 2023 he was appointed as the Managing Director of the Ecological Engineering Institute of Africa (EEIA). 

Rated among top 2% in the world in the scientific category of engineering/technology, ecological engineering and environmental engineering. 

Currently, Prof Oberholster is rated among the top 2% in the world in the scientific category of engineering/technology, ecological engineering, and environmental engineering. “Prof Oberholster has an extensive and impressive international research standing and has established extensive networks and partnerships. He can lead and manage the faculty in support of the UFS Vision 130’s ultimate intent for the coming years to be a research-led, student-centred, and regionally engaged university,” says Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal. 

“It is a privilege to be part of the leadership team in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences – we will ensure that the faculty is known nationally and internationally as an excellent faculty serving our community. We aim to consolidate and build on the strengths of the university in order to extend its excellence in research and teaching and learning, which is imbedded in the UFS Vision 130,” says Prof Oberholster. 

Prof Oberholster will succeed the current Dean, Prof Danie Vermeulen, who will be retiring at the end of December 2023. 

News Archive

UFS responds to concerns around high costs of higher education
2015-10-15

 

Dear Students

UFS responds to concerns around high costs of higher education

There is an understandable and shared concern among students in the country around the high costs of higher education. As you know, this also is a matter of deep concern on our campuses, which the University of the Free State (UFS) has made a priority in discussions with student leaders - and through new strategies to relieve the burden of costs on poor students and their families. In fact, in the past two weeks, the UFS leadership has again engaged students on the matter of fees in the future.

This is what we have done so far. We have maintained our position as one of the universities with the lowest tuition fees in the country. As you would have seen from recent newspaper reports on the cost of a degree at various institutions over the past five years, the UFS has had consistently low fees. This is not an accident; both the University Council and the executive leadership of the UFS is of one mind that we must offer a high quality education at minimum cost to all our students, despite the rising costs of operating a large multi-campus university with 30 000 students. Our commitment to you is to continue to keep those costs to students as low as possible, without compromising on the quality of education.

In addition, we took a decision earlier this year to become the first university to drop application fees for first-year students. We are proud of that achievement, since so many students fall at this first hurdle as they contemplate post-school education and training. We also waived registration fees for postgraduate students and now Research Master’s and PhD students can study tuition free under certain conditions. We raised more than R60 million from the private sector to enable talented students, who do not receive NSFAS funding, to complete their degree studies at the UFS. We set aside some of the university’s own funds to enable even more students to access finance for their studies. And we now have a special office set aside to counsel and assist students to apply for more than one scholarship to support their studies. The university does not follow a policy of maximizing exclusions. It has endeavoured and succeeded to turn around the majority of its potential deregistration cases. During 2015 we had 2 700 students at the risk of being de-registered, but our serious efforts resulted in only over 200 instances of exclusion we could not mitigate. As is the practice for the past few years, these students’ debt for 2015 has been reversed.

But, we do not only look for funds from outside to support our students. Last year we set up a Staff Fund to which ordinary members of the academic and support staff can contribute from their own, and sometimes very modest, salaries to enable Kovsie students to finish their degrees. We have volunteers who work on the No Student Hungry (NSH) Bursary Programme to raise funds for students who cannot afford a regular meal. We have an open line to rural and township schools to nominate poor students with good results for support by the Rector’s Fund, and some of those students are now in their final year of studies. And many of our staff support individual students in their homes and with their families, without being asked to do so. This is what we call the Human Project and it remains central to the way in which we deal with students.

We will of course continue to make representation to government, the private sector, and individuals to increase funding, especially for first-generation students, and for families where more than one student is at university. We will continue to take to the road to raise funds from companies and foundations to finance our students. We will expand on-campus opportunities for limited working hours for students who wish to earn some money to support their studies. As we have said often before, no student who passes all their courses or modules will be turned away simply because they do not have the funds to study.

The UFS discusses and agrees to fee increases with our students well in advance of the next academic year. None of these decisions are taken without the agreement of the student leadership and thus far these engagements, while tough, have always been done in good faith and with the students’ interests at heart.

It is important for you to know that, with the declining government subsidy, in real terms, and the expanding needs of our students, we will not be able to keep the university running without fees - even though this source of revenue comes mainly through scholarships and bursaries. We need to compensate staff, purchase new library books and renew journal subscriptions (which is very difficult given the low value of the Rand), upgrade computers and software, pay rates and taxes, purchase laboratory equipment, pay the water and electricity bills, expand internet services, upgrade campus security, and hire more academics to keep class sizes reasonably small. It is important for you to know that the university has managed to avoid increasing student fees as a result of much higher municipal rates. Our lecturers are not the highest paid in the country and financially we run a tight ship. We consistently achieve unqualified audits and we are known to be one of the universities that manage its NSFAS contributions with great efficiency. We do this because of our commitment to ensure that our students are able to enjoy a high quality of education on a stable campus where there is a deep respect for all campus citizens.

Despite all these efforts, the most important message we wish to communicate, is that the door remains open for continued discussion with student leaders as we continue to find ways of keeping university education open and accessible to all qualifying students. At the same time, the UFS leadership is involved in discussions with government about how to best manage the escalating cost of higher education for our dents.

Thank you for your support and understanding at this time and be assured, once again, of our commitment to students as a matter of priority to the university leadership.

Best regards

Prof Jonathan Jansen
Vice-Chancellor and Rector

University of the Free State
19 October 2015

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