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08 May 2024
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Story Anthony Mthembu
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Photo SUPPLIED
From left to right: Prof Philippe Burger, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) at the University of the Free State (UFS), presenting an award to Ntswaki Moshwaisi.
A cohort of esteemed academic and support staff from the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) at the University of the Free State (UFS), received well-deserved accolades at the 2024 annual EMS Awards. Notable among them were Programme Coordinator Ntswaki Moshwaisi and Associate Professor Prof Liezel Massyn from the UFS Business School.
Prof Massyn was lauded in the Teaching and Learning category, while Moshwaisi garnered recognition in the Support Staff category at the awards ceremony held on 18 April 2024, on the UFS Bloemfontein campus.
Reflecting on her achievement, Moshwaisi expressed gratitude, stating, “The award serves as motivation to myself to keep working hard and to innovate methods and approaches towards my work.’’
The significance of the awards
Prof Massyn remarked that the awards serve to spotlight the remarkable contributions of both academics and support staff within the faculty. She considers the award as a testament to her dedication, acknowledged by her esteemed colleagues. Both Prof Massyn and Moshwaisi attribute their success to the support they receive from their peers.
Moreover, they emphasise that these awards transcend mere recognition. It will serve as an impetus to the way forward. Moshwaisi envisages leveraging her award to enhance the quality and efficacy of the programmes under her stewardship. Prof Massyn, echoing this statement, asserts, ’’It will strengthen my belief in the transformative power of teaching and make me work harder to provide quality learning opportunities to students. I am a firm believer in following an evidence-based approach and will continue to research learning and teaching.’’
Department of Architecture builds next generation of architects
2010-03-22
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| With Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS are René Malan en Sancha Olivier. |
Since 1987 first-year architecture students have been building huts on campus annually as part of an introduction to architectural studies at the Department of Architecture at the University of the Free State (UFS).
According to Martie Bitzer, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, the students build these full-scale huts in groups of two, with responses to orientation, materials (grass, reads, earth construction – mud bricks), climate and community over a period of approximately three weeks.
On the day that the students completed their huts, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, visited the small community of 27 huts in the veld behind the Rag Farm. Here he was taken on a walk amongst the huts. He also addressed staff and students of the Department of Architecture
“I can smell excellence and goodness,” was some of Prof. Jansen’s remarks as he walked amongst the huts.
“Top students come to our Department of Architecture. Quality attracts quality. The recent achievements of this department are proof of this,” he said.
One of Kovsies final-year students, Wim Steenkamp, was named National Corobrik Architecture Student of the Year 2008. This was the second time in the past three years that a student from the UFS Department of Architecture has won this prestigious competition. The department also received unconditional accreditation from the South African Council for the Architecture Profession (SACAP) for all three courses offered, and over the past few years its students have won the Tripod Photography Competition, the National Cement and Concrete Institute Competition for honours students, and the Carl and Emily Fuchs Foundation Student Prestigious Prize.
This once again confirms the prestige the department enjoys in the field of architecture in South Africa. It is also proof of the quality of staff and the programmes offered at the department.