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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.
Award-winning artist Mohau Modisakeng exhibits at UFS
2017-03-02
One of the artworks from Modisakeng’s Lefa La Ntate
collection.
Photo: Supplied
Standard Bank Young Artist, Mohau Modisakeng is a multidisciplinary artist who uses memory as a portal linking the past and present to explore themes within the post-apartheid context.
The University of the Free State (UFS) is hosting the Visual Arts 2016 artist’s exhibition, entitled Lefa La Ntate. The exhibition is on at the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery in the Sasol Library on the Bloemfontein Campus and will run until 31 March 2017.
Artist uses his body to explore influences
Lefa La Ntate represents an emotional moment of grieving and is a critical response to the historical legacy of exploitation and the current lived experience of many black South Africans.
Modisakeng, who was born in Soweto in 1986, uses his body to explore the influence of South Africa’s violent history on how we understand our cultural, political, and social roles as human beings. “My work responds to the history of the black body within the (South) African context, which is intertwined with the violence of the apartheid era and the early 1990s.”
Acknowledging upcoming young artists
The Young Artist Awards were established to acknowledge emerging young South African artists who have displayed outstanding talent in their artistic endeavours.
The exhibition premiered at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2016 and has travelled to Port Elizabeth, Pietermaritzburg, and Cape Town.