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e-Service Learning initiative helps CEM students to make an impact locally

02 April 2025 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

Dr Marinda Avenant, Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), is working with her master’s students on a project to develop strategies to reduce the volume of solid waste reaching the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality’s already overburdened landfill sites.

All this came about through ‘Co-Producing Knowledge on Sustainable Growth through Service-Learning Pedagogy between African and European Higher Education Institutions’ (COPAFEU) – a project focused on ensuring that graduates have the skills they need for employment and entrepreneurship, while also contributing to sustainable local development. To do this, COPAFEU is developing a new approach where students follow the enhanced service-learning (e-service learning) route, working on real-world challenges and producing free, innovative educational resources on sustainable growth.

Dr Avenant became involved in the COPAFEU initiative two years ago when she was invited to be part of a consortium of universities applying for funding for the e-service-learning project from the ERASMUS+ funding programme, an EU funding programme for projects supporting education, training, youth, and sport.

She is leading the COPAFEU project on behalf of the Centre for Environmental Management (CEM) and the UFS.

A first time

Together with Prof Olusola (Shola) Oluwayemisi Ololade, Associate Professor and Director of CEM, and other academics, Dr Avenant is developing the e-service learning component to be incorporated into the structured Master of Science programmes specialising in Environmental Management and Integrated Water Management, respectively.

“Our postgraduate programmes in Environmental Management and Integrated Water Management are following a blended delivery approach catering to working professionals, with short contact sessions on campus before they return to their jobs.” Dr Avenant says that their curricula have never included a service-learning component due to the limited time students spend on campus as well as their work commitments.

Providing more clarity on the e-service learning concept, she explains that an entrepreneurial component is integrated into the conventional service-learning pedagogy. “As part of the project, students will collaborate closely with lecturers and community partners to co-produce knowledge and develop digital open educational resources.”

According to Dr Avenant, the master’s students started with the first phase of the project in January this year, working with the community partner – the Solid Waste Management section at the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM). In this phase, they visited a waste recycling pilot project, engaging with various stakeholders, including MMM environmental officers, residents from Mandela View, and waste pickers from the South African Waste Pickers Association, to reduce the volume of solid waste reaching landfill sites.

Following the visit, students are conducting situation analyses of different aspects of the pilot project and are developing solutions to optimise the recycling initiative. They will present their findings and recommendations to stakeholders in an online webinar in June 2025.

In the second phase of this project, students will use the experiences and knowledge acquired in the first phase to create short videos exploring how civil society can contribute to reducing solid waste. Dr Avenant states that these videos will form part of open-access short-learning courses developed by the students themselves. “The courses will be hosted on a web-based platform, contributing to the creation of several massive open online courses (MOOCs) in the project’s final phase,” she adds.

For Dr Avenant, it is important to make an impact at the local level. “I believe that this is where environmental management truly ‘happens’ and where our students can have the greatest impact. It is also the level where environmental interventions are most urgently needed in South Africa. Real sustainable solutions and growth must happen within local communities,” she comments.

“By focusing on local actions, our students can help to bring about meaningful and practical change,” she says.

Aligning with Vision 130

Although the Centre for Environmental Management’s involvement in the COPAFEU project has a local impact, it also aligns with Vision 130’s goal of expanding the university’s influence regionally and internationally. By collaborating with a consortium of two European and eight African universities, the project strengthens professional networks and increases the UFS’ global presence.

Just as these partnerships create opportunities for knowledge exchange and capacity building, they also provide a valuable platform for students to gain real-world experience and broaden their perspectives. Dr Avenant’s dream for her students is to see them grow into well-rounded environmental and water managers who can think critically, work across disciplines, and address complex real-world problems with innovative solutions. She hopes that this service-learning component will not only shift their perspectives, but also help them develop a diverse skill set, create a sense of social responsibility, and apply their knowledge in meaningful ways – whether by solving immediate environmental challenges or contributing to an open-access short learning course.

Beyond technical expertise, she believes that perseverance, accountability, resilience, teamwork, and ethical decision-making are just as important, and she is confident that this experience will help to establish these qualities in her students.

News Archive

UFS to investigate implementation of quality-monitoring system for SA food industry

2006-02-07

Some of the guests who attended the workshop were from the left Prof James du Preez (Chairperson: Department of Biotechnology at the UFS); Prof Lodewyk Kock (Head: South African Fryer Oil Initiative (SAFOI) at the UFS)); Mrs Ina Wilken (Chairperson: South African National Consumer Union (SANCU)); Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS) and Mr Joe Hanekom (Managing Director of Agri Inspec).
Photo: Stephen Collet

UFS to investigate implementation of quality-monitoring system for SA food industry

The University of the Free State (UFS) will be investigating the implementation of a quality-monitoring service for the South African food industry.

This was decided during a workshop to discuss the external quality monitoring in the edible oil industry of South Africa, which was recently held at the UFS.

Major role players in the fast-food sector like Nando's, Spur, Captain
Dorego's, King Pie Holdings, Black Steer Holdings, etc and various oil
distributors like Felda Bridge Africa, Refill Oils, PSS Oils and Ilanga Oils attended
the workshop. Also present was Mrs Ina Wilken, Chairperson of the South African National Consumer Union (SANCU) and key-note speaker of this workshop. She represented the consumer.

These role players all pledged their support to the implementation of this quality- monitoring system for the whole food industry.

The decision to implement this system follows the various malpractices reported in the press and on TV concerning food adulteration (eg the recent Sudan Red Scare), misrepresentation (eg olive oil scandal exposed in 2001) and the misuse of edible frying oils by the fast-food sector.

“One of the basic rights of consumers is the right to safe food. Consumers must be protected against foods and food production processes which are hazardous to their health. Sufficient guarantee of the safety of all food products and food production processes should be implemented. It does not help to have adequate food standards and legislation and there is no manpower to do the necessary investigation or monitoring,” said Mrs Wilken.

The South African Fryer Oil Initiative (SAFOI), under the auspices of the UFS Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, currently monitors edible oils in the food industry and makes a seal of quality available to food distributors.

“Last week’s decision to implement the quality-monitoring system implies that we will now be involving also other departments in the UFS Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences who are involved in various aspects of the food chain in an endeavor to implement this quality monitoring system,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS and one of the main speakers at the workshop.

Prof van Schalkwyk said that the main aim of such a system will be to improve the competitiveness of the South African food industry. “It is clear that the role players attending the workshop are serious about consumer service and that they agree that fraudulent practice should be monitored and corrected as far as possible. Although some of the food outlets have the capacity to monitor the quality of their food, it may not seem to the consumer that this is an objective process. The proposed external monitoring system would counteract this perception amongst consumers,” said Prof van Schalkwyk.

The workshop was also attended by representatives from SAFOI and Agri Inspec, a forensic investigation company collaborating with inter-state and government structures to combat fraud and international trade irregularities.

Agri Inspec has been working closely with SAFOI for a number of years to test the content of edible oils and fats. “Extensive monitoring and control actions have been executed in the edible oil industry during the past four years to ensure that the content and labeling of oil products are correct. Four years ago almost 90% of the samples taken indicated that the content differed from what is indicated on the label. This has changed and the test results currently show that 90% of the products tested are in order. However, to maintain this quality standard, it is necessary that quality monitoring and educational campaigns are continuously performed,” said Mr Joe Hanekom, Managing Director of Agri Inspec.

“The seal of quality presented by SAFOI should also be extended to include all the smaller oil containers used by households,” Mrs Wilken said.

The SAFOI seal of quality is currently displayed mainly on some oil brands packed in bigger 20 liter containers, which include sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil etc which are used by restaurants and fast food outlets. “Any oil type is eligible to display the seal when meeting certain standards of authenticity. In order to display the seal, the distributor must send a sample of each oil batch they receive from the manufacturer to SAFOI for testing for authenticity, ie that the container’s content matches the oil type described on the label. This is again double checked by Agri Inspec, which also draws samples countrywide from these certified brands from the end-user (restaurant or fast food outlets). If in breach, the seal must be removed from the faulty containers,” said Prof Lodewyk Kock, Head of SAFOI.

“It should however be taken into account that oils without a seal of quality from the UFS can still be of high quality and authentic. Other external laboratories equipped to perform effective authenticity tests may also be used in this respect,” said Prof Kock.

“It is also important to realise that any oil type of quality such as sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil etc can be used with great success in well controlled frying processes,” he said.

Further discussions will also be held with the Department of Health, the SA National Consumer Union and Agri Inspec to determine priority areas and to develop the most effective low-cost monitoring system.

More information on the UFS oil seal of quality and oil use can be obtained at www.uovs.ac.za/myoilguide

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
6 February 2006

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