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UFS on track to revolutionise student success and boost sustainability

14 August 2025 | Story Onthatile Tikoe and the Centre for Teaching and Learning | Photo Supplied

CTL — From the left: Dr Jenny Glennie (SAIDE), Gugu Khanye (Director: Student Success – UFS), Prof Matete Madiba (Deputy Vice-Chancellor – UWC), Prof Francois Strydom (UFS Siyaphumelela Lead), and Prof Nthabiseng Ogude (Siyaphumelela Institutional Coach) at the 2025 Siyaphumelela Conference. The group played a key role in advancing conversations around student success, collaboration, and innovation in higher education.

The University of the Free State (UFS) is advancing a transformative approach to student success that positions it to become a national leader in enhancing social mobility. This vision was underscored at the 2025 Siyaphumelela Conference, where the university shared details of its groundbreaking collaboration with the National Institute for Student Success (NISS) at Georgia State University (GSU) in the United States.

Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director: Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), explained that the initiative builds on lessons from GSU’s remarkable achievements. “The success of Georgia State University has been truly inspiring,” he said. “The NISS approach, which focuses on using data to dismantle systemic barriers and improve graduation rates, has transformed outcomes for a predominantly low-income and diverse student body. By contextualising this data-driven model for our environment, the UFS is proud to be the first university on the African continent to implement it.”

Building on proven success

GSU’s success in eliminating equity gaps in retention and completion among different racial groups was achieved through a redesign of its support structures and processes. Drawing on its own established track record of narrowing equity gaps in success rates, the UFS aims to replicate these outcomes in a way that is tailored to its unique context.

At the conference, the UFS Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) launched a new national report on student engagement trends and presented papers on a range of topics. These included innovative strategies for improving performance in high-priority modules, the use of predictive analytics to provide proactive student support, and research into gender differences in academic performance and class attendance in a post-COVID world.

Prof Strydom also led an exploratory panel discussion on strengthening collaboration between universities, business, and philanthropy to drive large-scale student success initiatives. “By facilitating a deeper understanding between philanthropic organisations, businesses, and universities, we can develop innovative and impactful approaches to funding and student support,” he said.

Driving innovation and sustainability

The UFS’ contributions at the conference were further reinforced by institutional projects focused on the evidence-based integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into student learning and success. These initiatives reflect a clear commitment to transformation that is both research-led and data-driven.

Looking ahead, Prof Strydom emphasised the opportunity before the institution: “We have a unique opportunity to leverage the lessons learnt from our student success initiatives to guide further research, deploy technology in ways that optimise human connection, and help create responsible societal futures while contributing to the sustainability of our university.”

News Archive

UFS Department of Computer Science and Informatics motivates programming success among learners

2015-04-23

From Sentraal High School are from the left: Albert Dreyer (full marks, Grade 9); Corlé van der Walt (full marks, Grade 10); Janco Venter (full marks, Grade 10); Soné du Pisanie (full marks, Grade 10) en Handré Venter (Grade 9).

A group of learners from the Free State, who are taught at and by the University of the Free State’s Department of Computer Science and Informatics (under the Python project), came first in the Talent Search round of the South African Computer Olympiad (SACO).

According to Dr Anelize van Biljon, senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics, the Olympiad is presented in three main rounds: the Talent Search, the Application Olympiad, and the Programming Olympiad.

At the UFS’s Department of Computer Science and Informatics’ Python project, pupils from various schools in Bloemfontein attend programming classes where they are taught by staff and students of the department. These students are benefitted by the opportunity to transfer their knowledge to others. All the classes are free of charge.

Anelize explains: “The name was chosen because we use the Python programming language. It is a language with considerable appeal – not one of the fastest – which can be learnt relatively quickly, and which conforms to SACO requirements. The purpose of this programming is to implement algorithms (the learner is given a problem, makes a plan to solve it, and does the necessary programming). Thus, it is not about the looks of the programme, but about its effectiveness and speed.”
Anelize is the initialiser and co-ordinator of the Python project. "I started this project in 2010 in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics for learners from Grades 6 to 12 to encourage them to take the subject. These classes exposed them to something more than school work. I enjoy this kind of competitions and am also very involved with Maths Olympiads.

Achievements such as these are good advertisements for the Department of Computer Science and Informatics,” she said.

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