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Prof Peter Rosseel delivers guest lecture during UFS visit

13 August 2024 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Sibahle Dayimani and Amandla Kulu

The Business School at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted Prof Peter Rosseel, Managing Director of Management Consulting and Research – a spin-off of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium – for a guest lecture during his visit to the UFS Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS).

The guest lecture took place on 19 July 2024 in the Business School Auditorium and was attended by academics from the UFS.

Reflecting on the lecture

The lecture presented by Prof Rosseel focused on how combining strategy, strategy implementation, culture transformation, leadership, and learning successfully leads to sustainable growth, creates engagement, and delivers tangible results. Throughout the lecture, Prof Rosseel spoke about how experts tend to make bad leaders and therefore stop change from happening within an organisation. In fact, he highlighted that, “Experts stop change from happening within the workplace because experts, by definition, look through the eyes of their expertise, but you cannot reduce the world to different forms of expertise, as it is holistic.” As such, he argued that to change an organisation, one must see things from the point of view of others.

Furthermore, Prof Rosseel delved deeper into the hierarchical operating model within organisations. He indicated that the above model should be one community within organisations; however, unfortunately it is not. This is because organisations are made up of several departments such as finance and human resources. As such, he regards these departments to be silos that could prove to be detrimental to organisations, as each silo can create its own culture as opposed to an organisational culture. These are some of the points he discussed throughout the lecture.

After the lecture concluded, the audience had the opportunity to engage with Prof Rosseel on his viewpoints. In fact, Lyle Markham, Academic Head of Department and Lecturer in Industrial Psychology at the UFS, was one of the audience members and described the lecture as insightful.

News Archive

Significant boost for infrastructure development

2012-12-28

The University of the Free State (UFS) recently received a significant boost for its infrastructure development with the approval of infrastructure projects totalling
R333,600 million by the Department of Higher Education and Training for the next three years.

The funding includes cost sharing, with the department contributing R208,394 million and the UFS contributing an amount of R125,206 million.

The UFS Council approved the projects and the cost sharing during the last meeting for the year on 16 November 2012.

“We are elated by the generous funding received from the department as it will assist us in fast-tracking our infrastructure development, providing in the increasing need for new and upgraded facilities at all three campuses,” said Prof. Nicky Morgan, Vice-Rector: Operations.

The projects include:

Upgrading and new disability access to various buildings on the Bloemfontein, South and Qwaqwa Campuses;
A building in Kimberley, which will be shared by the School for Allied Health Professionals and Nursing;
Upgrading and extension of the biotechnology and nutrition facilities, additional infrastructure for the Department of Physics and the upgrading of an extension to the genetic sciences facilities on the Bloemfontein Campus;
A new 250-bed student residence on the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campusus, respectively;
Facilities for the Faculty of Education;
Six lecture rooms on the South Campus;
Upgrading of the interpreting laboratory and the development of an audio-visual production facility for recording of lectures on the Bloemfontein Campus;
Provision of office space for the Centre for Teaching and Learning on the Bloemfontein Campus;
Lecture halls and a laboratory for the Department of Geography and Tourism on the Qwaqwa Campus; and
Funding of additional infrastructure for the Department of Physics on the Qwaqwa Campus.

“The department made special mention of the way the UFS manages its infrastructure and efficiency funding when the announcement about the allocation of funds was made. This is a feather in our cap as the department has been referring other higher education institutions to the UFS for advice on infrastructure development,” he said.

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