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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

Extension of the academic calendar

2016-03-21

At the Senate meeting which was held on 29 February 2016, a resolution was taken to extend the academic calendar by one week to make up for the lost academic week as a result of the recent student protest action. In particular, it was decided that the commencement of the mid-year exams be postponed by one week. The Faculty of Health Sciences was the only faculty that was allowed to stick to the initial dates.

At its meeting of 2 March 2016, Rectorate discussed this matter and resolved to endorse the resolution of Senate, namely that the mid-year exams will be postponed by one week and that only the Faculty of Health Sciences can stick to the original dates as stipulated in the calendar.

Undergraduate lectures

(Excluding Faculty of Health Sciences)

First semester

Lectures start: 1 February 2016
Lectures end: 20 May 2016

8-credit modules

1 February 2016 - 1 April 2016
11 April 2016 - 20 May 2016

Holiday: 22 - 24 March 2016

Easter Weekend: 25 - 28 March 2016

Main mid-year examinations

Start: 23 May 2016
End: 11 June 2016

Additional mid-year examinations

Start: 13 June 2016
End: 4 July 2016
End of first semester: 8 July 2016

Holiday: 11 July 2016 - 15 July 2016

Second semester

Undergraduate lectures

(Excluding Faculty of Health Sciences)

Lectures start: 18 July 2016
Lectures end: 21 October 2016

8 Credit modules

18 July 2016 - 2 September 2016
5 September 2016 - 21 October 2016

Holiday: 3 - 7 October 2016

Main end-of-year examinations

Starts: 24 October 2016
Ends: 12 November 2016

Additional end-of-year examinations

Starts: 14 November 2016
Ends: 3 December 2016

End of Second Semester

9 December 2016

UFS holiday: 8 August 2016.

UFS recess from: 20 December 2016 - 3 January 2017.

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