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31 January 2024 | Story EDZANI NEPHALELA | Photo ANJA AUCAMP
Dr Martin Laubscher
Dr Martin Laubscher’s thesis, crowned with the Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu Prize, is testament to the university’s unwavering commitment to scholarly excellence.

In a historic triumph that reverberates over four decades since its inception, the UFS has clinched the coveted Andrew Murray Prize – now renamed the Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu Prize – for the first time. Standing shoulder to shoulder with institutions such as the University of Pretoria (UP) and Stellenbosch University (SU), this achievement marks a significant milestone in the UFS’ journey.

At the heart of this accomplishment lies the profound contribution of Dr Martin Laubscher, distinguished Senior Lecturer specialising in Practical and Missional Theology in the Faculty of Theology and Religion. Dr Laubscher’s dedication and scholarly prowess culminated in the groundbreaking work titled Publieke teologie as profetiese teologie? (Public theology as prophetic theology), a revised edition of his doctoral thesis, which was originally crafted at Stellenbosch University in 2020, with a focus on the eminent Karl Barth.

Dr Laubscher received the Andrew Murray Prize for Theological Books in Afrikaans for his research and insightful analysis. The journey started when he realised, under the guidance of his study leader, Prof Dion Forster, that his script had the potential to be published in Afrikaans. Sun Media’s interest in publishing this work in Afrikaans, led to it being the first-ever published thesis in Afrikaans. Dr Laubscher recalls, “I was grateful and excited about Sun Media’s interest. The book emerged within a year, and during a celebratory launch Prof Forster suggested I submit it for the Andrew Murray Prize.”

Earlier this year, Dr Laubscher was excited to learn that he was being shortlisted for the prestigious award. Reflecting on the significant moment, he shares, “The elation I felt upon receiving the news was unparalleled. I was not only celebrating a personal triumph, but also etching my name as the first laureate from our faculty to secure this prestigious accolade.”

News Archive

More buy in to economics training in schools
2006-11-23

Departments of Education from five more provinces in South Africa bought in to the outreach programme of the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) in the United States of America’s (USA) effort to improve the quality of the training in Economics of teachers and lecturers across the world. The University of the Free State's (UFS)  Department of Agricultural Economics is the initiator of this co-operative agreement with the NCEE.

 
Attending a workshop in Bloemfontein where heads of the various departments of education were present and received information on this project, were, from the left: Dr Radhika Bridgemohan (Department of Education: KwaZulu-Natal), Dr Patricia Elder (NCEE Vice-President in Washington DC), Dr Thula Mbatha (Chief Director in the Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal), Dr Frank Peters (Director: Curriculums in the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape); back: Prof Klopper Oosthuizen (Department Agricultural Economics at the UFS and initiator and co-ordinator of the project).<

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