Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
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 Rector gets reappointed
2007-06-08

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) today unanimously (Friday 8 June 2007) extended the term of Prof. Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, for a further five years.

Prof. Fourie was appointed on 1 January 2003 in this position and his current term appointment will expire on 31 December 2007. The extension of his five-year term as Rector and Vice-Chancellor will come into effect on 1 January 2008. .

“During the course of his term Prof. Fourie clearly demonstrated that he has the competencies and abilities to manage the recent strong growth phase of the UFS and to further develop the UFS to be a modern university,” said Judge Faan Hancke, Chairperson of the UFS Council.

“His commitment to quality, integrity, justice, non-racialism and non-sexism are qualities that will be crucial to addressing the strategic objectives and priorities of the UFS,” said Judge Hancke.

According to Judge Hancke, Prof. Fourie’s confrontation of and commitment to two of the most important challenges facing the UFS also played a role in the Council’s decision to extend his term. These challenges are:

  • The institutional charter as key to successful, high-quality transformation and social robustness in the context of diversity; and
  • The strategic clusters as key to a word-class research and teaching profile, academic quality and robustness.

A diversely compiled committee with a balanced representivity made a unanimous decision to submit the extension of Prof. Fourie’s term to Council today for approval. The evaluation committee comprised of among others the chairperson of Council as the presiding officer, the vice-chairperson of Council, other Council members who are not employees of the UFS and representatives of Senate.

The process comprised of the evaluation of Prof. Fourie’s work performance and competencies within a broad framework of the strategic aims of the UFS.

According to Judge Hancke the evaluation committee considered aspects such as the staff profile of the UFS; the vision, mission, values and strategic priorities of the UFS and Prof. Fourie’s vision for the UFS; the inherent post requirements of Rector and Vice-Chancellor; the outcome of the evaluation discussion with regard to Prof. Fourie’s successes during his term as Rector and the future challenges for a rector before the recommendation was made to Council.

“On behalf of Council I wish to congratulate Prof. Fourie with his appointment and wish him all of the best with his task to take the UFS to new heights,” said Judge Hancke.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za
8 June 2007
 

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