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UFS presents inaugural Senate Conference on Engaged Scholarship

28 March 2024 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Stephen Collett

Keynote speakers during the UFS 2024 Senate Conference included, from the left: Prof Kristina Josefsson from University West, Sweden; Prof ‘Funmi Olonisakin from King’s College London, England; Prof Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS and Chairperson of the Senate; and Prof Relebohile Moletsane from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The University of the Free State (UFS) presented its inaugural Senate Conference on the Bloemfontein Campus from 11 to 12 March 2024.

The conference, themed ‘Making Change through Engaged Scholarship’, initiated an important suite of conversations aligned with the UFS’ aspirations with Vision 130. The programme – which covered a wide range of topics by national and international speakers – included case studies of engaged scholarship from faculties, as well as breakaway sessions during which pertinent questions around engaged scholarship were discussed. A key element of the programme was the screening of a documentary film titled One Day, which accentuated the significance of engaged scholarship.

The organisation of the conference – both conceptually and logistically – was led by Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation at the UFS, supported by an organising committee consisting of various role players across the university.

Importance of engaged scholarship for universities

In his opening remarks, Prof Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS, said that in the higher education sector, universities in South Africa, continentally, and globally are grappling with the key challenges of our time, including social justice, environmental degradation, and economic growth and job creation.

“We encounter these challenges in a global context that is increasingly volatile, and in which universities must constantly innovate and adapt in order to remain vibrant, relevant, and impactful. This is a time for higher education that is demanding, fraught, and disruptive. The challenges are many and complicated,” said Prof Petersen.

“Engaged scholarship is crucial for universities, particularly those in the Global South, as it fosters community collaboration, addresses local challenges, and promotes sustainable development,” he said.

Conference proceedings showcased of UFS’ involvement in engaged scholarship

On day 1, presentations included a discussion on ‘Engaged Scholarship in a Time of Geopolitical Contestation: An African Perspective’ by Prof ‘Funmi Olonisakin from King’s College London, England; and ‘Knowledge Products and Scholarship Engagement: The Way Forward for Universities’ by Prof Eugene Cloete from Stellenbosch University. The programme included a screening of a documentary film about engaged scholarship, titled One Day. Produced by Charlene Stanley from Storytown Productions, the film focused on the collapse of the tailings dam wall at the Jagersfontein Mine in September 2022 and the severe sludge damage to houses, property, and the environment. In particular, the film highlighted how the university’s interventions made a difference to the community. The day was concluded with presentations of engaged scholarship case studies from faculties, as well as group discussions.

Day 2 started off with a presentation by Prof Kristina Josefsson from University West, Sweden, on ‘Work-Integrated Learning and Engaged Scholarship – Meetings of Knowledge to Create Positive Change’, followed by a presentation on ‘Rurality, Community and Engaged Scholarship’ by Prof Relebohile Moletsane from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. As was done the previous day, presentations of engaged scholarship case studies from faculties and group discussions rounded off the day.

Some of the issues that have been identified and need to be taken further in order to embed engaged scholarship within the UFS, include the need to create a common understanding of engaged scholarship through careful interrogation of the terminology; the co-creation of knowledge, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to solving problems; the impact of engaged scholarship on teaching, learning, and research interventions; and the sustainability of projects when the engaged scholars leave a community, and how to measure success or otherwise.

Programme

Click to view document UFS 2024 Senate Conference Programme

Documentary Film: One Day

Presentations

Click to view document ‘Knowledge Products and Scholarship Engagement: The Way Forward for Universities’ by Prof Eugene Cloete, Stellenbosch University.

Click to view document ‘Work-Integrated Learning and Engaged Scholarship – Meetings of Knowledge to Create Positive Change’ by Prof Kristina Josefsson from University West, Sweden.

Click to view document 'Rurality, Community and Engaged Scholarship’ by Prof Relebohile Moletsane from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

News Archive

Migration is a developmental issue - experts

2010-06-01

Pictured from the left, front, are: D. Juma, Mr Williams and Prof. Hussein Solomon (University of Pretoria); back: Prof. Bekker, Prof. Lucius Botes (Dean: Faculty of the Humanities, UFS) and Dr Wa Kabwe-Segatti.
Photo: Stephen Collett

“Migration offers more opportunities for economic growth than constraints. It is an integral part of the processes of globalisation and regional integration.”

This was a view shared by one of the speakers, Dr Monica Juma from the Africa Institute of South Africa, during a panel discussion hosted by the Centre for Africa Studies (CAS) at the University of the Free State (UFS) last week as part of the celebrations of Africa Day on 25 May 2010.

The discussion was premised on the theme, Migration and Africa: From Analysis to Action.

Dr Juma said migrants could be assets for host countries or cities because of their resourcefulness. She said they brought along essential skills that could contribute immensely to the economic development of their host countries or cities.

“Governments are beginning to see migration as a tool for development and working together in developing immigration policies,” concurred another speaker, Mr Vincent Williams from the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA).

He said, if managed properly, migration could yield positive results. He said effective management of migration should start at local and provincial levels.
And for this to happen, he said, the current immigration laws should be amended as he felt they were no longer relevant, because they were based on what countries wanted to achieve in the past.

“Reform national immigration legislation to encourage permanent settlement and improve service delivery mechanisms and bureaucracy to match population movements,” Dr Aurelia Kazadi Wa Kabwe-Segatti, from the Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand recommended.

However, Mr Williams pointed out that policy convergence was a difficult thing to achieve as migration was a politically sensitive issue. He said decisions that countries made on migration could have a negative or a positive bearing on their relations with one another.

Dr Juma also raised the issue of unskilled migrants which, she said, could be a burden to governments. This was reflected in the current South African situation where foreigners offered cheap labour and thus rendered South Africans who demanded higher salaries unemployable. This was a contributory factor to the xenophobic attacks of 2008. What was essentially a labour problem then manifested itself as a migration problem.

Prof. Simon Bekker from the University of Stellenbosch said South Africa was still losing a significant number of skilled professionals to Europe and North America due to an assumption that spatial mobility led to social or economic mobility.

He also suggested that the government should not restrict internal migration but should address the problem of migration across the borders into South Africa.

Senior Professor at the CAS, Prof. Kwandiwe Kondlo, said while the discussion covered a broad scope, there were some gaps that still needed to be filled in order for an all-inclusive view to prevail. One such gap, he said, was to also accord indigenous traditional institutions of governance space in such deliberations and not base discussions on this issue only on the Western way of thinking.

Africa Day is the day on which Africa observes the creation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on 25 May 1963, to promote the unity and solidarity of African states and act as a collective voice for the African continent; to secure Africa’s long-term economic and political future; and to rid the continent of all remaining forms of colonialism. The OAU was formally replaced by the African Union in July 2002.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
1 June 2010

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