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22 October 2024 | Story Precious Shamase and Bulelwa Moikwathai | Photo Supplied
DHET international scholarship sessions 2024
Bulelwa Moikwaikwatlhai , Assistant Director: International Office and Dr Temwa Moyo, acting Director for International Scholarships at DHET.

The University of the Free State (UFS) Qwaqwa Campus recently hosted two information sessions on international scholarships, led by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). These sessions were initiated by the Office for international Affairs.

In his welcoming address during the first information session for campus heads of department, Campus Vice-Principal: Support Services, Teboho Manchu, expressed his enthusiasm for the event and its potential benefits for students and staff. He emphasised the importance of these sessions in fostering growth and development. “We are looking forward to these engagements and hope that they will benefit all of us. Please feel welcome. I would also like to thank the Office for International Affairs and all the colleagues who have been working with them to make this interaction possible.”

Dr Temwa Moyo, acting Director for International Scholarships at the DHET, gave a comprehensive presentation on Erasmus+ programmes, which provide universities with opportunities and funding to collaborate on curriculum development for new programmes, capacity building in higher education, and full scholarships for joint master’s degrees, to name a few.

“The UFS has a significant international footprint, including on the African continent. Our department’s role is to stimulate international collaboration among institutions and to strengthen national collaborations to share best practices and build networks and capacity. This is the idea of the Erasmus + programmes,” explained Dr Moyo.

The DHET representative emphasised the department’s commitment to fostering international collaboration among universities and institutions. He explained that the Erasmus+ programmes aim to empower institutions and capacitate them to engage globally.

In the second student-centred session, Prof Ralph Clark, Director of the Afromontane Research Unit, encouraged students to take advantage of these opportunities because they enhance one’s networks, perspectives, and knowledge, as well as provide a platform for students to participate in and contribute to conversations and activities aimed at addressing global challenges with societal impact. The event provided attendees with various international opportunities through the DHET to support their academic pursuits. Students and staff learned about the benefits of studying abroad, the requirements, and the application process. The DHET’s emphasis on institutional partnerships also highlights the possibility of enriching academic exchange and cultural experiences.

Overall, the DHET international scholarship sessions on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus were a resounding success, with both students and staff attending in numbers. These sessions inspired students and staff to explore the exciting possibilities of global engagements.

News Archive

Faculty of Theology hosts annual meeting of Society for Practical Theology
2015-01-30

From the left are: Prof Yolanda Dreyer (Chairperson of SPTSA, University of Pretoria), Prof Johann Rossouw (UFS), Prof Hussein Solomon (UFS) and Prof Johan Cilliers (Stellenbosch University).
Photo: Michelle Nothling

The privilege of hosting the annual meeting of the Society for Practical Theology in South Africa (SPTSA) fell to the University of the Free State (UFS) this year. Delegates from across the country recently convened on the Bloemfontein Campus to attend the event from 21 – 23 January 2015.

The three-day congress saw several high-profile keynote speakers discussing the topic of ‘Power of religion and religions of power’.

Dr Johann Rossouw from the UFS Department of Philosophy presented a paper on ‘Power, the state and the church in South Africa’. Dr Rossouw regards the cooperation between theologians and philosophers as integral to help us understand the time we live in. Twenty years since the dawn of South Africa’s democracy, “the gap between the country we were promised and the country we received is bigger than ever,” Dr Rossouw said. “A South-African Church … cannot but make her voice heard regarding this gap.”

Expert on conflict resolution and fundamentalism, Prof Hussein Solomon from the UFS Department of Political Studies and Governance scrutinised the compatibility of Islam with democracy. He warned, though, against “the labelling of a conflict as religious on the mere basis of its religious overtones.” Prof Solomon’s paper, ‘Political Islam: trends, trajectory and future prospects,’ not only advocated tolerance and political pluralism, but also pointed to the fact that it is “in the common good of all humanity” to avert a “Clash of Civilizations”.

‘God in granite?’ – Prof Johan Cilliers’ paper – investigated the phenomenon of the monumentalization of religion. Prof Cilliers from Stellenbosch University explained that monuments often have “spiritual character and iconic value, in the sense that it offers a space for the formation or discovery of meaning.” In his presentation he showed, though, that monuments – even those connected to religious motifs – “seldom escape the lure of power”.

The event was organised by the University of the Free State’s Faculty of Theology, Department of Practical Theology.

  

For more information or enquiries contact news@ufs.ac.za .

 

 

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