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UFS wins top awards at the 2024 Mace Excellence Awards

05 December 2024 | Story Dr Cindé Greyling | Photo Kaleidoscope

MACE Winners 2024 — From left to right: Burneline Kaars (Head: Employee Wellness and Organisational Development), Dr WP Wahl (Student Life Director), Linda Greyling (Senior Officer: Special Projects, Student Recruitment Services), Gerben Van Niekerk (Senior Officer: Kovsie Support Services), Malia Maranyane (Senior Officer: Undergraduate Marketing, Student Recruitment Services), Nomonde Mbadi (Student Recruitment Services Director), and Susan Van Jaarsveld (Senior Director: Human Resources).

On 28 November 2024, the University of the Free State (UFS) did it again – reigned as champions at the annual Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) Excellence Awards and walking away with two of the top awards: the MACE Award for Outstanding Research and the Severus Cerff Award for Consistent Excellence.

KovsieX was named the overall winner of the MACE Award for Outstanding Research. This award is made to the entry with the highest score in research, clearly demonstrating how research has supported the strategic objectives of the institution and the project. KovsieX is a multiplatform approach designed to leverage the strengths of diverse media channels. This digitalisation aligns with Vision 130, leveraging emerging technologies to enhance teaching and learning quality and efficiency of non-academic support structures and systems.

The UFS’ entries were of such high quality that the university won the sought-after Severus Cerff Award for Consistent Excellence. This award is based on the number of entries entered by an institution and the number and level of those entries winning awards. The award is therefore made to the institution with the highest success ratio.

Furthermore, the UFS Matriculant of the Year event received a Silver Award – entries scoring 5.75 or higher earn a Silver Award, placing this event among some of the top achievers in the events category. Three UFS entries received Gold Awards and were the winners in their respective categories: KovsieChat (Digital Channels), 2024 Women’s Day Breakfast (Events), and KovsieX (Stakeholder Engagement Campaigns). This is a magnificent achievement for the UFS.

"Winning a MACE award at this early stage is proof that KovsieX is not just meeting national standards – it’s setting them. If we can achieve this level of excellence now, imagine how we’ll compete on the global stage when the project is fully realised,” says Gerben van Niekerk, Student Media Manager.

Lacea Loader, Senior Director: Communication and Marketing and Coordinator of the MACE Excellence Awards, explained that a record number of entries were received for the Excellence Awards this year. “We are ecstatic about the direction of communication at the UFS and that the university has been able to maintain the quality of its entries in recent years,” says Loader.

The MACE Excellence Awards takes place annually as part of the MACE National Conference, recognising and celebrating excellence and the achievements of specialists and practitioners in marketing, advancement, and communication in the higher-education sector. This year, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) hosted the conference from 27 to 28 November 2024.

In 2023, the UFS won 11 awards, including the Chairperson’s Award of Excellence.

News Archive

Prof Prakash Naidoo appointed as Vice-Rector: Operations

2017-09-13

Prof Prakash Naidoo has been appointed
as Vice-Rector: Operations
Photo: Stephen Collet

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the appointment of Prof Prakash Naidoo as Vice-Rector: Operations, during its quarterly meeting held on the South Campus in Bloemfontein on 8 September 2017.

Prof Naidoo is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Resources and Planning at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT). He has also been the Executive Dean: Faculty of Management Sciences at VUT. Prior to this, he was a lecturer in the Department of Accounting at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), and Vice-Dean and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Commerce at DUT.
“Prof Naidoo is a seasoned senior manager and an excellent appointment in this vital position. He understands the higher-education sector, and the Council is satisfied by the quality and extent of experience which he will bring to the position,” said Mr Willem Louw, Chairperson of the UFS Council.

He holds a PhD in Management Accounting, MComm in Management Accounting, Honours in Accounting, Honours in Economics, BComm (Acc), and a University Diploma in Education.

Prof Naidoo is a registered professional accountant with the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA), an associate of the Chartered Institute of Business Management (CIBM), and an Internationally Certified Fraud Examiner (ACFE). He was also an international associate of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
He served as member and chairperson on various boards and forums, including the Investment Committee of the National Tertiary Retirement Fund (NTRF); Audit Committee of the National Institute on Higher Education in Mpumalanga (NIHE); Audit Committee of the Higher Education Purchasing Consortium (PURCO), and other task teams in higher education. He also served as a former director of ACFE (SA Chapter), where he received a commendation for his work in fighting fraud and corruption in the country. He has written and published numerous papers, supervised research, presented papers at conferences, and published one book.
Prof Naidoo is currently the Campus Principal of the university’s Qwaqwa Campus. He will start in the new position as from 1 January 2018, following the subsequent retirement of Prof Nicky Morgan, current Vice-Rector: Operations at the end of December 2017.

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