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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

Students selected for prestigious Stanford Sophomore College
2012-04-04

 

From the left are: Elri Marais, Palesa Mafisa, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Goodwill Shelile and Foster Lubbe. Gabriela Schroder and Saeed Abdullah were absent when the photo was taken.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
4 April 2012


As part of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) comprehensive suite of student leadership development programmes, a strategic partnership with Stanford University, USA has been forged.

Starting in 2012, selected cohorts of high-potential second-year students will annually participate in the Stanford Sophomore College Programme. The UFS and Oxford University in the UK are the only non-Stanford participants in this strategic and unique opportunity.

Following a highly competitive selection process based on both written and oral assessment, managed by the UFS Centre for Teaching and Learning and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, the first group of six students was recently selected and will visit Stanford University from 1 – 14 September 2012.

The exclusive and high profile Sophomore College has been offered at the prestigious Stanford University on the West Coast of the US for a number of years. It takes the form of a residential summer programme for second-year students who participate and engage in intense academic exploration with peers and professors on a variety of innovative, multidisciplinary topics.

Depending on the course selected, students participate in a variety of intellectual and academic programmes, do research, work in labs, engage in readings of texts and develop presentation skills.

Some courses are held in part or entirely off campus. Advisory sessions to assist students in their preparation, academic orientation and intellectual development will be conducted prior to their departure to add value to the experience at Stanford.

The students will benefit from the programme in many ways, among others the intense academic exploration of topics with an eminent international scholar, immersion in and exploration of a field of interest, the opportunity to hone critical habits of mind, train to become a more engaged and entrepreneurial learners and collaborate and form relationships with friends and peers.
 

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