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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

Strengthening ties with Belgium ally

2013-10-31

From the left are: Prof Dr Johan Meeusen signing the agreement with Prof Nicky Morgan, Vice-Rector: Operations.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
31 October 2013

The UFS signed a formal agreement with the University of Antwerp, strengthening the two institutions’ existing collaboration. Prof Dr Johan Meeusen, Vice-Rector and Professor of European Law and Private International Law at the University of Antwerp, visited the Bloemfontein Campus to sign the agreement. This arrangement will ensure that the two institutions work in close conjunction on research and additional projects.

Dineo Gaofhiwe-Ingram, Assistant Director: Internationalisation, says the new relationship between the two universities will have a strong research focus. "It’s evident and known that we want to become a research-intensive university.” She emphasises that the relationship with Antwerp as well as partnerships with a variety of other institutions are crucial. These will ensure that young emerging scholars, like those taking part in the Vice-Chancellor's Prestige Scholars Programme, are exposed internationally during their development. “We hope that some of the scholars in the new cohort of the PSP will be able to find scientists to host them at Antwerp," Gaofhiwe-Ingram adds.

In addition, she explains that this formal agreement will augment pre-existing collaborations with the Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, as well as the Centre for Health Systems Research and Development. It will also open up cooperation between other faculties and disciplines. “Through Eurosa/Erasmus Mundus Project, which awards scholarships to South African students and staff to study in Europe, the 2014 project will now also award scholarships to European students and staff to come and study in South Africa,” Gaofhiwe-Ingram announced.

The University of Antwerp is one of the European associates that participates in the Leadership for Change Programme and hosted a group of first-year Kovsie students during 2011. In 2012, representatives from the University of Antwerp attended the Leadership Summit presented on the Bloemfontein Campus. Another group of first-year students from the UFS took part in this year’s programme.

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