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07 March 2024
Photo Lunga Luthuli
Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director at the Centre for Teaching and Learning and Simphiwe Kunene, the first African DREAM scholar and a master’s student from the Faculty of Education.
The University of the Free State (UFS) received recognition for its commitment to student success at the 2024 Achieving the Dream (ATD) conference which celebrated its 20-year anniversary. Simphiwe Kunene, an Education master's student originally from the Qwaqwa campus, was selected to represent South Africa as the first DREAM scholar from Africa as part of the conference.
The Achieving the Dream network of over 300 institutions, which is one of the largest movements in US higher education aims to transform colleges and universities so that students of colour and a lower socio-economic status are supported to earn a degree. The UFS is a leading partner in the Siyaphumelela Network, which has been working for 10 years with ATD to enhance the success of students in South Africa. Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director at the Centre of Teaching and Learning (CTL), accepted the award on behalf of the institution.
Prof Strydom said that collaboration with the ATD and Siyaphumelela institutions has helped the UFS to develop cutting-edge approaches to “level the playing field” and support Kovsies to earn their undergraduate degrees.
The first African DREAM scholar
Kunene was selected as the first African DREAM scholar from the Siyaphumelela network. To select the DREAM scholar, each Siyaphumelela partner institution nominated one student as a preferred candidate. From the proposed candidates, the DREAM scholar was selected by the South African Institute for Distance Education (Saide) based on the following: demonstrating resilience, academic excellence, and a deep commitment to making a positive difference in universities and personal communities.
He addressed the conference of over 2 000 delegates and shared with them his hopes and dreams. Many members of the South African delegation said Simphiwe did his country proud. He had the following to say about his opportunity to be a DREAM scholar: “Being a DREAM scholar was life changing for me, exposing me to an array of opportunities I never knew were possible and available for me. It was as if, for a moment, the world had stopped to just listen to what I had to say."
The way forward
The UFS will continue its work as a partner of the Siyaphumelela network for the 2024-2026 cycle. The multi-stakeholder project team is focused on enhancing undergraduate students’ time, and to position the UFS as a thought and research leader in the area of student success as part of Vision 130.
Wayde sets 200m SA record, and is world’s fastest in 2017
2017-06-13
Wayde van Niekerk is in great form leading up to the World Championships
in London in August. Photo: SASPA
He was the first South African to break the 20-second barrier in the 200m, but for the past two years Wayde van Niekerk had to be satisfied that fellow countryman Anaso Jobodwana was quicker. Now the Kovsie athlete isn’t only the national record holder again – he also is the fastest man on the planet in the 200m in 2017.
After Van Niekerk ran a 19.90, the world’s fastest this year, when he won the South African title in Potchefstroom in April, the American Christian Coleman (19.85) improved on that.
Personal best and 0.06 seconds quicker than Anaso
However, Van Niekerk ran a 19.84 in the 200m at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston, Jamaica, on 11 June 2017. This was 0.06 seconds quicker than his personal best, and 0.03 seconds better than Jobodwana’s national record of 19.87 at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. Van Niekerk was the first South African to run under 20 seconds in the 200m when he did so two years ago in 19.97 in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Same pace a second time in a week
It was also the second time in a week that the 400m world record-holder ran an 19.84 in the 200m. This after he did it on a temporary built track at the Boost Boston Games on 4 June 2017. The race was run on a straight street course and was therefore not officially recognised as a record.
“This is definitely a positive step forward,” Van Niekerk said, according to www.iaaf.org. “I felt that I was in pretty good shape last week in Boston, I wanted to repeat that here (in Kingston).”
He seems to be in good shape leading up to his attempt to run a double, his favourite 400m and the 200m, at the World Championships in London, England, in August.