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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

Infrastructure development booming at UFS

2016-09-30

Description: Physics and Geography Complex on the Qwaqwa Campus Tags: Physics and Geography Complex on the Qwaqwa Campus

The new Physics and Geography Complex on the
Qwaqwa Campus is connected to the existing
Chemistry Building.
Photo: Charl Devenish

As a world-class tertiary institution, the University of the Free State (UFS) boasts with three new buildings on its Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses since 2015. All of these buildings are extensions to current buildings, supporting the university’s vision of excellence in academic achievement.

Extensions and additions to the value of R23 million were made to the existing Biotechnology Building. The funding was provided by the Department of Higher Education and Training. The additions were made to the southwestern corner of the existing building. Further developments to the building includes: six new offices, a lecture hall for 70 students, and laboratories accommodating 56 postgraduate students.

Prof Martie Smit, Academic Head of this department, says: “This new and refurbished facility enables us to give our best. As academics, we are committed to do our part in delivering high-quality education on both undergraduate and postgraduate levels to students envisaging a future in biotechnology.”

Dr Lis Lange, Vice-Rector: Academic, is proud of the heights the department has reached to date. “The Department of Physics is undoubtedly one of the jewels in the crown of our university, and we are very proud of its developments. Universities are built on legacies, and they are also about change, which is what this department has been demonstrating.”
The new Physics and Geography Complex on the Qwaqwa Campus is connected to the existing Chemistry Building. The building is the first of its kind on the campus and boasts an auditorium with 360 seats and a Geography Information System laboratory with 100 work stations.

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