Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

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

UFS unveils portrait of Ms Winkie Direko

2005-11-28

During the unveiling ceremony were from the left Prof Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS), Mrs Direko, Judge Faan Hancke (Chairperson of the UFS Council) and Dr Charles Nwaila (Director-General of the Free State Provincial Government and Vice-Chairperson of the UFS Council). The blue background of the portrait depicts Ms Direko's philosophy of "the sky is the limit". She also wore the same outfit as what she has on in the portrait. Photo: Stephen Collett

UFS unveils portrait of Ms Winkie Direko
A portrait of Ms Winkie Direko, former Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS) and Premier of the Free State Province and currently a Member of Parliament, was unveiled today during the last session of the UFS Council for this year on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

The portrait, painted by the gifted artist Ms Reshada Crouse, now hangs in the Council Chambers of the UFS.

Ms Direko was sworn in as Chancellor of the UFS in August 1999. She was the first black person and first woman in this position at the UFS. She was succeeded by Dr Franklin Sonn.

“Ms Direko had an exceptional legitimacy in the black community because of her role in black education in the Free State (as principal) and community leader in the difficult ‘struggle’ period. This former principal’s simultaneous insistence on transformation as well as discipline and order at an educational institution was exactly what the UFS needed at that stage,” said Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, during the unveiling ceremony.

“She also played a special role to bring the UFS and the Free State Provincial Government closer to each other. Her comprehension for the own nature of a university helped in times when difficult decisions had to be made. She also realised the value of the university’s expertise for her government. The Premier’s Economic Advisory Council, with the UFS rector and academics like Lucius Botes and James Moses in leading roles, was formed to undertake important research on economic development strategies in the Free State,” said Prof Fourie.

In her speech Ms Direko said that it is an unique experience for her to be catalogued in the history of the UFS. “I am humbled and proud to be associated with the UFS,” she said.

Ms Direko said that the UFS is on the right track with its transformation process. “I will continue to convince people that the UFS is for everyone and will fight for that until the end. But, it is important to see a visible change concerning transformation. The UFS must bring its side and speed up the transformation process. I know that it is a difficult road, but we cannot hide from the realities of our time,” she said.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
25 November 2005

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept