Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
28 May 2024 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Jon Vincent
Ibali
Educators, academics, and policymakers in attendance at the Ibali Education Stakeholders Forum.

The Centre for Development Support (CDS) at the University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with Ibali, hosted the Ibali Education Stakeholders Forum on 10 May 2024 at the Centenary Complex on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus. 

According to Prof Faith Mkwananzi, Associate Professor at the CDS, the event, an initiative of the Ibali Project, aimed to ‘’inform and disseminate project findings to individuals with an interest in educational exclusion and inclusion. It also served as a forum for stakeholders to share insights on the matter. “ The forum was well attended by educators, school leaders, academics, and policymakers from the Free State. Additionally, the event saw representation from Ibali, including Dr Alison Buckler, Deputy Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Development (CSGD) at The Open University.

A platform for engagement

Discussions at the forum focused on creating inclusive learning environments for learners and students within the province and beyond. Stakeholders had the opportunity to discuss the challenges they face in fostering inclusive learning spaces through panel discussions and presentations. ’’The involvement of stakeholders and presentation of diverse perspectives contributed to a robust engagement, indicating that individuals and organisations are motivated to support an inclusive and sustainable education system at every level in South Africa,’’ said Prof Mkwananzi.

The Ibali initiative

Dr Buckler explained that Ibali is a network of researchers, practitioners, and educators interested in how storytelling can support different understandings around complex issues in education and development. One of Ibali’s projects, funded by the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), explores what inclusion and exclusion look like within education in countries like Nigeria, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Insights from the engagement

Dr Buckler highlighted several insights from the forum. She noted that inclusive practice can manifest in various ways. ‘’People talked about mixing groups of students in lectures, creating a supportive community for their deaf sibling, mainstream schools inviting children from ‘special schools’ for play sessions, and so on,’’ she said. Moreover, she emphasised that a key takeaway is that “underpinning hugely diverse examples of inclusive practice are a fairly small number of key principles around empathy, communication, ubuntu, and seeing someone as whole instead of defining people by certain characteristics that align with inclusion policies.”

As the engagement session concluded, both Prof Mkwananzi and Dr Buckler expressed hope that stakeholders could learn from one another’s experiences, fostering a more inclusive educational environment.  

News Archive

Groundbreaking research underway to improve health in the Free State
2009-04-06

 
Some of the researchers in the project, are from the left, back: Dr Sanet van Zyl, Dr Lynette van der Merwe (both of Basic Medical Sciences), Ms Michélle Pienaar (Ph.D. student Nutrition and Dietetics), Prof. Corinna Walsh (project leader, Nutrition and Dietetics) and Dr Dries Groenewald (Chemical Pathology); front: Mr Llewellyn Fourie (M.Sc. student, Nutrition and Dietetics) and Mrs Marleze van Rhyn (Van Rensburg Patoloë).
Photo: Supplied.
Groundbreaking research underway to improve health in the Free State

Ahead of World Health Day on Tuesday 7 April, researchers at the University of the Free State (UFS) have announced that they are involved in an extensive research project to determine how life in urban and rural areas influences the lifestyle of the communities and contributes to lifestyle illnesses such as obesity, diabetes and heart diseases, as well malnutrition.

According to the researchers of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS, the study in various suburbs of Mangaung is a long-term project known as Assuring Health for All in the Free State (AHA-FS) and will monitor communities every three years for a period of twelve years.

Prof. Corinna Walsh of the Department Nutrition and Dietetics is the project leader and works closely with researchers in the departments of Basic Medical Sciences and Chemical Pathology of the School of Medicine in the faculty.

A total of 36 researchers and field workers are involved in the project and information on various nutrition and health aspects are gathered. Those include diet, physical activity, health, knowledge, practices and attitude towards nutrition.

Medical examinations, anthropometric measuring (of the human body) and various blood tests will be done in the study and extensive data on 1 200 people will be available in the end.

The data gathered will be used in intervention programmes planned to prevent and address health programme in these communities.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za  
06 April 2009

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept