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Legal Education Colloquium sparks book project at UFS

01 March 2024 | Story VALENTINO NDABA | Photo SUPPLIED

Prof Geo Quinot and with Ntando Ncamane — Prof Geo Quinot from Stellenbosch University, pictured with Ntando Ncamane, a Lecturer in the UFS Department of Mercantile Law.

The Department of Mercantile Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently spearheaded a Legal Education Colloquium, marking the genesis of a groundbreaking book project with the vision of revitalising legal education across South Africa. Attended by luminaries from academia, legal practitioners, and students, the event featured Professor Geo Quinot from Stellenbosch University, a distinguished figure renowned for his profound insights into legal education, as the keynote speaker.

Ntando Ncamane, a Lecturer in Mercantile Law, provided a comprehensive overview of the colloquium’s objectives, outcomes, and future trajectory. "The dynamic evolution of legal frameworks, notably the promulgation of the Constitution, statutes, and landmark cases, has necessitated a reformation in South African legal education," Ncamane remarked. He underscored the pivotal role of digital transformation, particularly in the context of the pandemic, and emphasised the joint commitment of regulatory bodies and academic institutions towards fostering an ethos of engaged scholarship. The colloquium served as a platform to dissect and explore transformative trends, inviting stakeholders to deliberate on novel perspectives and navigate emerging challenges in legal education.

Insights from Prof Geo Quinot and eminent experts

Reflecting on the invaluable insights garnered from deliberations, Ncamane highlighted Professor Quinot's keynote address, which advocated for a reimagining of collaborative endeavours, particularly involving students. Discussions spanned an array of topics including innovative methodologies, enhancing assessment frameworks, leveraging digital platforms for education, integrating competition law into curricula, promoting engaged scholarship, nurturing emotional intelligence among students, and addressing complexities within modules such as civil procedure. Stimulating dialogues on decoloniality, decolonisation, and ubuntu ethos also permeated the discourse.

The forthcoming book, a culmination of the colloquium, will traverse themes encompassing Digital Education, Student Engagement, and Decolonisation. Ncamane elucidated, "Contributors will be aligned with one of the themes based on the relevance of their contributions…A call for papers was issued, eliciting abstract submissions from prospective contributors."

Scholars hailing from diverse academic institutions including the UFS, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Limpopo, University of Fort Hare, North-West University, Varsity College, and Stellenbosch University, have been enlisted for participation. Each chapter will undergo a peer review process, ensuring scholarly rigour and academic excellence.

Role and impact of the book

Articulating the envisioned role of the book, Ncamane underscored its potential to reshape legal education and curriculum development. He said, "The book offers key approaches that can be adopted by legal scholars to improve teaching methods, ultimately benefiting students, academics, and society at large."

With regards to timelines, Ncamane indicated that the publication is slated for release in late 2024 or early 2025, contingent upon the duration of the blind review process and editorial refinement. The Legal Education Colloquium and its ensuing book project exemplify a concerted endeavour to address the evolving imperatives of legal education, foster scholarly discourse, and contribute meaningfully to the enhancement of legal praxis in South Africa.

News Archive

Faculty of Education hosts global education conference

2015-11-09

The Faculty of Education at the University of the Free State hosted the Annual conference of the South African Education Research Association (SAERA). From the left are Profs André Keet, Director of the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice, Sechaba Mahlomaholo, Dean: Faculty of Education, Carlos Torres, keynote speaker and Professor of Social Sciences and Comparative Education, and former Director of the UCLA-Latin American Center, and Azlam Fataar, SAERA president.

National and global issues, trends, and research were discussed at the annual conference of the South African Education Research Association (SAERA), hosted by the Faculty of Education at the University of the Free State.

Considered as the highlight for educators, education researchers, and education policy makers, this conference is linked directly to the World Education Research Association (WERA), and to the American Education Research Association (AERA).

More than 400 delegates from national and international universities, as well as other interest groups such as the Department of Higher Education and Training of South Africa, have submitted abstracts on a variety of topics, spanning the different disciplines in education.

Keynote Speaker, Prof Carlos Torres, Professor of Social Sciences and Comparative Education, and former Director of the UCLA-Latin American Center, explained the importance of global citizenship education.

“The requirements to enable global citizenship education are clarification, bare essentials, principles, teaching methods, and agents. Global citizenship education is an intervention in search of a theory.”

Prof Torres's areas of theoretical research focus on the relationship between culture and power, the interrelationships of economic, political, and cultural spheres, and the multiple and contradictory dynamics of power among, and within, social movements that make education a site of permanent conflict and struggle.

Prof Teboho Moja, policy researcher and policy analyst for higher education in South Africa, spoke enthusiastically about changes taking place currently in higher education, changes that are driven by the recent demands of university students. Her keynote address dealt with equality and equity in higher education in South Africa.

“This conference is taking place whilst ‘something’ is happening in South Africa. This ‘something’ had to happen to achieve equity in higher education. Recent events on campuses left me proud to see the unity amongst students. Will the next phase in transformation and reform see that the doors of learning will be opened to all, as stated in the Freedom Charter?”

Prof Moja has authored articles on higher education reform issues in areas such as the governance of higher education, policy processes, and impact of globalisation on higher education.

“Hosting a conference of this magnitude validated the research work of the Faculty of Education in particular. It also positioned the Faculty positively in the national and international conversations around education research and gave the Faculty the opportunity to showcase its research, teaching, community engagement, and most importantly its organisational skills,” said Prof Sechaba Mahlomaholo, Dean of the Faculty of Education. According to Prof Mahlomaholo, staff (academic and support) in the Faculty have benefited greatly from listening to and networking with outstanding scholars from across the broad spectrum of education disciplines in the world. “These scholars also role modelled excellence in education research, which both our students and academic staff are now working towards emulating and surpassing,” he said.

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