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UFS celebrates and honours its exceptional academic achievers

23 October 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo CTL

Dr Arno van Niekerk — Dr Arno Van Niekerk, Senior Lecturer in the Department Economics and Finance was awarded the UFS 2023 Book Prize award at the UFS Exceptional Academic Achievers Awards.

The University of the Free State (UFS) celebrated its researchers, academics and academic support staff at the inaugural UFS Exceptional Academic Achievers Awards with Prof Hendrik Swart, Dr Arno van Niekerk and Jana Lamprecht walking away with the Prestige Academic Achievers Awards.

Exceptional Academic Achievers Awards bring together the annual Learning and Teaching Awards (hosted by CTL), as well as the Research Awards hosted in 2023 by the office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation. This award function aims to recognise exceptional academic achievements in the area of learning and teaching, as well as research – breaking down silos within the academic space.

Prof Swart, Senior Professor in the Department of Physics and the SARChI Research Chair: Solid-state Luminescent and Advanced Materials, won the Exceptional Established Achievers’ Award which comes with R30 000 in prize money. Dr Van Niekerk, Senior Lecturer in the Department Economics and Finance was awarded the UFS 2023 Book Prize award for his book The Inclusive Economy: Criteria, Principles and Ubuntu, winning R25 000, while Lamprecht, Senior Lecturer in the School of Accountancy, walked away with the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards in Learning and Teaching.

In her welcoming address, Prof Anthea Rhoda, Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS, said the purpose of the ceremony is to recognise those scholars at the UFS who are doing outstanding work in research and in teaching and learning in their respective disciplines. She said what is especially exciting about awards is the recognition of both research and teaching excellence as these two pillars of academia are often viewed separately but at the UFS it is understood that they are deeply interconnected.

“Each one of the nominees and winners is making a significant impact in their fields of research and in teaching and learning at the UFS and in doing so, are raising the excellence profile of the UFS and driving our aspirations to be a student-centred, research-led university, as outlined in Vision 130,” Prof Rhoda said.

Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation, said: “Quality research is another building block in a university.” He emphasised that the recognition of research excellence is about “asking key questions as to what makes the research by our colleagues unique, what makes it novel, how does it build on past and current knowledge, but perhaps more important, how does it shift the knowledge base to move us to innovation and impact?”

Freedom to be creative and innovative

Lamprecht, who received a special recognition for being a National University Teaching Awards (NUTA) nominee, says she feels absolute gratitude for winning this award. “I am grateful that the University of the Free State not only allows me the academic freedom to be creative and innovative in my teaching but that the university also recognises and rewards excellence.”

Last year she won the Innovation in Learning and Teaching Best Conference paper as well as the Innovating my Curriculum through Student Engagement and/or Motivation awards at the UFS Learning and Teaching awards. In 2020, Lamprecht also walked away with awards at the UFS Learning and Teaching awards as well as a Senior Top Achiever: Teaching and Learning Award from the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.

According to her, she had to submit a teaching portfolio and was invited to present at the Learning and Teaching conference. However, she did not expect to win the category as the other three colleagues who were also nominated in this category were strong contenders.

“It always feels good when efforts are recognised and rewarded. However, for me, this award is about having a platform to share innovative teaching and learning ideas with fellow lecturers, empowering colleagues to have a positive impact on the academic careers of our students,” says Lamprecht.

Recognition is motivation

Dr Van Niekerk had previously received the Junior Lecturer of the Year award from his faculty (EMS), as well as the Service-Learning award for the engaged scholarship work he does with his students.

According to him, he did not expect to win and was surprised when his name was called as the winner. Says Dr van Niekerk: “I was hoping but I didn’t want to raise my expectations too high. I mean, the UFS has excellent academics in various faculties, so I honestly didn’t expect anything.

“I was so surprised, to be honest. I also felt a deep sense of appreciation for recognising the hard work one puts in in writing a book like that. The many hours of waking up at 3am to do the research for the book now really feels worth it.”

Dr Van Niekerk says recognition has a special effect on you and motivates you in a surprising way. Academics, he says, do not do research and teaching for the awards, so when they come by, it gives you a warm feeling.

“Lecturers really put in a lot of effort, which isn’t often seen or recognised because we have to balance so many responsibilities – and the expectations keep rising. I have to admit, we do feel under constant pressure, which I don’t think is ideal. I decided to write the book out of passion to contribute towards real economic change. Now that it’s recognised, it confirms to me once again that people flourish when they live out their passion, not when they’re under pressure.”

According to Prof Swart, it is always a great honour to be recognised for the work he has done in the past.

“I knew I had been nominated, but I was not expecting to win. This award is only possible if you have a large team of collaborators all over the world, staff, postgraduate and postdoctoral students that work together, producing world-class research. Although I received the award, I accept it on the team's behalf and thank them for their support over the years,” says Prof Swart.

Research and teaching and learning valued, supported, and celebrated

Prof Rhoda commended the award-winning researchers and said their perseverance, curiosity, and hard work have led to remarkable contributions. She said they remind us that academic excellence is not just about individual success but about shaping the world for the better.

According to her, research is the bedrock of innovation. It is through research that we challenge boundaries, explore new frontiers, and contribute to the advancement of our society.

“At the UFS, we pride ourselves on fostering an environment where research can thrive – where questions can be asked, hypotheses tested, and knowledge advanced. Tonight, we honour those who have not only asked the important questions but have provided answers that make an impact.

“Our researchers are producing ground-breaking work that addresses some of the most pressing challenges facing our world today – whether in health, science, commerce, the humanities, education, or technology. Your work enriches the intellectual fabric of this institution, and it positions us as a global player in the academic community.”

But research, Prof Rhoda continued, is only one side of the coin. Teaching and learning are equally critical to the mission of this university. It is through innovative and impactful teaching and learning that we prepare the next generation of leaders, innovators, and critical citizens, she said.

“Great teaching inspires; it transforms lives and lays the foundation for future achievements. Tonight, we recognise the outstanding educators who have gone above and beyond in their commitment to teaching and learning. You are the mentors, the guides, and the role models who make a lasting impact on the lives of your students.

“Through your creativity, dedication, and compassion, you help students not only acquire knowledge but also develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they need to navigate an ever-changing world. To our award-winning educators, we thank you for your service to the university and to your students.”

Prof Reddy concluded by emphasised a theme of the event stating that “research and teaching are inextricably intertwined and interrelated. Purposeful teaching efforts and investments in good teaching can make us better researchers. The flipside is also true.” He added: “Research results inspire and instil fresh insights into the lecture theatres and laboratories, both scientific and creative.”

Click to view document Click here to view a complete list of UFS Learning and Teaching Conference winners, and click here to watch the highlight video.

Interested in finding out who the nominees were? Click here to view the booklet.

News Archive

Position statement: Recent reporting in newspapers

2014-10-03

Statement by the Institutional Forum of the University of the Free State

You may have read reports in two Afrikaans newspapers, regarding recent events at the University of the Free State (UFS). Sadly, those reports are inaccurate, one-sided, exaggerated and based not on facts, but on rumour, gossip and unusually personal attacks on members of the university management.

Anyone who spends 10 minutes on our Bloemfontein Campus would wonder what the so-called ‘crisis’ is about.

We are left with no choice other than to consider legal action, as well as the intervention of the South African Press Ombudsman, among other steps, to protect the good name of the institution and the reputation of its staff. No journalist has the right to launch personal and damaging attacks on a university and its personnel, whatever his or her motives, without being fair and factual. In this respect, the newspapers have a case to answer.

But here are the facts in relation to the reports:

No staff member, whether junior or senior, is ever suspended without hard evidence in hand. Such actions are rare, and when done, are preceded by careful reviews of our Human Resource Policies, labour legislation and both internal and external legal advice. Then, and only then, is a suspension affected. A suspension, moreover, does not mean you are guilty and is a precautionary action to allow for the disciplinary investigation and process to be conducted, especially where there is a serious case to answer.
At no stage was the Registrar instructed to leave the university; this is patently false and yet reported as fact. We specifically responded to the media that the Registrar does outstanding work for the university and that it is our intention for him to remain as our Registrar through the end of his contract in 2016.
The Rector does not make decisions by himself. Senior persons, from the position of Dean, upwards, are appointed by statutory and other senior committees of the university and finally approved by Council. No rector can override the decision of a senior committee, and this has not happened at the UFS even in cases where the Rector serves as Chair of that committee. The impression of heavy-handed management at the top insults all our committee structures, including the Institutional Forum – the widest and most inclusive of stakeholder bodies at a university – which reports directly to Council on fairness and compliance of selection processes.
In the case of senior appointments, Council makes the final decision. Council fully supports the actions taken on senior appointments, including a recent senior suspension. The fact that one Council member resigns just before the end of his term, whatever the real reason for this action, does not deter from the fact that the full Council in its last sitting approved the major staffing decisions brought before it. The image therefore that the two newspapers try to create of great turmoil and distress at the university, is completely unfounded.

Even if we wanted to, the university obviously cannot provide details about staffing decisions, especially disciplinary actions in process, since the rights of individuals should be protected in terms of the Human Resource Policies and procedures of the UFS. But that does not give any newspaper the right to speculate or state as fact that which is based on rumour or gossip, or to slander senior personnel of the university. For these reasons, we have been forced to seek legal remedy and correction as a matter of urgency.

Make no mistake, underlying much of the criticism of the university has been a distress about transformation at the UFS; in particular, the perception is created that white colleagues are losing their jobs. The evidence points in the opposite direction. Our progress with equity has been slow and we lag far behind most of the former white universities; that is a fact. More than 90% of our professors are white; most of our senior appointments at professorial level and as heads of department are still overwhelmingly white. Reasonable South Africans would agree that our transformation still has a long way to go and only the mean-spirited would contend otherwise. But based on the two Afrikaans newspaper reports, an impression is left of the aggressive rooting out of white colleagues.

In the past few years the academic standard of the university has significantly improved. We now have the highest academic pass rates in years, in part because we raised the academic standards for admission four years ago. We now have the highest rate of research publications, and among the highest national publication rate of scholarly books, in the history of the UFS. We have one of the most stable financial situations of any university in South Africa, with a strong balance sheet and growing financial reserves way beyond what we had before. We now attract top professors from around the country and other parts of the world, and we have the highest number of rated researchers, through the National Research Foundation, than ever before. And after the constant turmoil of a number of years ago, we now have one of the most stable campuses in South Africa. Those are the facts.

The UFS is also regarded around the world as a university that has become a model of transformation and reconciliation in the student body. The elections of our Student Representative Council are only the most visible example of how far we have come in our leadership diversity. Not a week goes by in which other universities, nationally and abroad, do not come to Kovsies to consult with us on how they can learn from us and deepen their own transformations, especially among students.

Rather than focus on what more than one senior journalist, in reference to the article in Rapport of 21 September 2014, rightly called ‘a hatchet job’ on persons and the university, here are the objective findings of a recent survey of UFS stakeholders: 92% endorse our values; 77% agree with our transformation; 78% believe we are inclusive; and 78% applaud our overall reputation index. Those are very different numbers from a few years ago when the institution was in crisis.

This is our commitment to all our stakeholders: we will continue our model of inclusive transformation which provides opportunities for study and for employment for all South Africans, including international students and colleagues. We remain committed to our parallel-medium instruction in which Afrikaans remains a language of instruction; we are in fact the only medical school in the country that offers dual education and training in both Afrikaans and English for our students - not only English. We provide bursaries and overseas study opportunities to all our students, irrespective of race. And our ‘future professors’ programme is richly diverse as we seek the academic stars of the future.

We are not perfect as a university management or community. Where we make mistakes, we acknowledge them and try to do better the next time round. But we remain steadfast in our goal of making the UFS a top world university in its academic ambitions and its human commitments.

END

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