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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.
UFS to compete in Varsity Football
2013-07-22
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| 19 July 2013 |
Kovsies have been chosen as one of the eight teams that will compete for the honours in the premier university football competition. The competition is hosted under the Varsity Sports endeavour, responsible for frantic university athletics and hockey competitions earlier in the year.
The football competition will take place at the various stadia of the participating universities – the University of Pretoria (UP Tuks), North-West University Mafikeng Campus (NWU Mafikeng), Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), University of the Western Cape (UWC), University of Cape Town (UCT), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) and the UFS.
Certain matches promise to elevate the status of university football stars even further, as matches will be broadcast live on SuperSport. The tournament gets underway on Monday 22 July 2013, with the final to be played on 16 September 2013.
Luckily for UFS football fans, Kovsies will play their first match of the campaign against UCT with home-field advantage at Shimla Park. Kick-off on Monday 22 July 2013 is at 19:00.
For information on other features, schedules for the rest of the competition and information on televised matches, please click here.