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18 August 2025 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons
Prof Hanneke Brits
Prof Gert van Zyl, Dean for the Faculty of Health Sciences, Prof Hanneke Brits, a family medicine specialist at the Free State Department of Health, as well as the Department of Family Medicine at the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Anthea Rhoda, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic, and Prof Nicholas Pearce, Head of the School of Clinical Medicine before the inaugural lecture.

Universities have an obligation to ensure that their assessments are sound and defendable when they confer degrees for professional qualifications, such as in medicine. Can institutions confidently defend these results and what are the implications if they pass a student who is not competent?

These were some of the questions Prof Hanneke Brits, a family medicine specialist at the Free State Department of Health, as well as the Department of Family Medicine, at the University of the Free State (UFS), addressed during her inaugural lecture on Tuesday (12 August). The UFS, she concluded at the end of her lecture, titled To pass or not to pass: Can we confidently defend the outcome of our assessments? can defend its clinical assessments with the implementation of effective workplace-based assessment and trained examiners. 

 

The implications of passing incompetent students 

According to Prof Brits, who has supervised numerous undergraduate and postgraduate student research projects, she chose this topic because decisions have consequences. She gave an overview of the assessments in the clinical years of the undergraduate medical programme. In so doing, she also answered other questions including what may happen when universities pass students who are not competent and what may happen if they fail competent students. When the university passed a candidate, she said, that candidate may register with a professional body like the Health Professions Council of South Africa to work as a doctor. 

“What are the implications if we fail to fail a student who is not competent? The implications are that patients may suffer if they are treated by an incompetent doctor, which may lead to the doctor running into trouble if it is found that their work is not up to standard. This may further lead the faculty being labelled as poor for training substandard doctors. 

“The throughput rate of the university may go down and the university may not get subsidy for the students. The student must repeat his module with a lot of emotional and financial burden. They public may suffer because there are not enough healthcare professionals to treat them. Therefore, we must get this right,” she said. 

When assessing students, assessors should start at the bottom: students should know, then they should know how, then they should show how and then they must do. All assessments should meet the basic requirements of validity, reliability, fairness, educational impact and feasibility, explains Prof Brits. 

 

Workplace-based training and assessment

During her PhD study, she looked specifically at assessments in the clinical years of the undergraduate medical programme. “It is quite complicated,” said Prof Brits, “to do assessment for professional qualifications as you need to obey to the rules and regulations of the Department of Education, the Department of Health, the Health Professions Council of South Africa, the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa because they are our examining body, as well as our own university rules and international assessment guidelines and best practices.” 

She compiled a framework to measure what they do at the UFS and found that the decision reliability was excellent – meaning the students that passed during the year passed at the end of the year and those that failed, failed. The reliability of some of the methods used for the final assessment was not good, however, if more assessments with supplementary exams were included, it was better. 

The conclusion of her study was that the UFS mostly complied with the regulations of the regulatory bodies. The recommendation from this study was to implement workplace-based assessment (WBA) to improve both the validity and reliability of assessments and to make it more defendable. Prof Brits explained that WBA is where students get regular assessment and feedback while they work and receive training in hospitals or clinics. “For example, the student is seeing a patient in the emergency department who was stabbed with a knife on his hand. Is the student able to assess the severity, can the student manage the wound and what about follow-up? 

“The advantage of WBA is that we train in real life situations and manage conditions that occur commonly. In real life situations, students use many senses while learning, e.g., seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, which all enhance knowledge retention. It is important that students receive feedback and that we document these encounters. To ensure a holistic approach to the management of patients we use Entrustable Professional Activities or EPAs – something that I can trust a person to do. It is a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes.”

News Archive

The Kovsie woman hockey team back in the A Section for 2010.
2009-07-06

 
The Kovsie woman hockey team back in the A Section for 2010.
The University of the Free State (UFS) was this year the host of the University Sport South Africa (USSA) hockey tournament.

More than 660 hockey players from 17 tertiary institutions met in Bloemfontein to participate in the USSA Hockey tournament. After the National Senior Interprovincial hockey tournaments, the USSA tournament is seen as the second most important hockey tournament in South Africa. With the 34 teams that participated in the tournament on the Kovsie astro’s, it was the biggest hockey tournament in the country.

Finals Day (Day 5)

Double delight for Maties hockey

3 July 2009

JONATHAN COOK
at USSA Hockey Week in Bloemfontein

THE University Sport South Africa Hockey Week finals saw the University of Stellenbosch take the men's and women's titles, both against University of Johannesburg (UJ), at a chilly University of The Free State in Bloemfontein Friday.
There was also joy and disappointment for the promoted and relegated teams.
Hosts UFS (Kovsies) saw their men relegated back to the B Section (they had been promoted the year before at the USSA Hockey Week at North West University Pukke in Potchefstroom) and Wits return to the top level having won the B Section after their demotion last year.
Women's B Section winners in Bloemfontein Friday were Kovsies, the Free State girls now back in the A Section for 2010 after their demotion last year, while last year's promoted B Section side, University of KZN, go back to the second rung of SA university hockey after finishing last in the A Section in 2009.
Maties' men won a thrilling A Section final on a golden goal by captain Pierre de Voux after UJ had ended full-time 1-1 with the Stellenbosch men.
The women's final saw Maties run away to a 4-1 victory in the end as they finished the final in an impressive manner.
The men's and women's tournament teams, chosen under the direction of selection convenors Braam van Wyk (women) and Cheslyn Gie (men), were announced at the conclusion of the women's final at this superb hockey complex of which Kovsies have every reason to be proud.

RESULTS

Men's A Section: (1/2) University of Johannesburg 1 Maties 1 (Maties won on golden goal); (3/4) Tukkies 2 UKZN 2 (Tuks 5-4 penalty strokes); (5/6) UCT 1 NMMU 0; (7/8) Pukke 6 Kovsies 2.

Women's A Section: (1/2) Maties 4 University Johannesburg 1; (3/4) Pukke 1 Tukkies 1 (Pukke 4-2 penalty strokes); (5/6) NMMU 2 UCT 0; (7/8) Wits 2 UKZN 1.

Men's B Section: (1/2) Wits 2 Rhodes 2 (Wits won on golden goal); (3/4) Tukkies B 5 Central U of Tech 1; (5/6) Kovsies B 1 Cape Pens U of Tech 1 (Kovsies won 4-3 penalty strokes).

Other: Pukke B 2 Limpopo 0.

Women's B Section: (1/2) Kovsies 1 Rhodes 1 (Kovsies 4-3 penalty strokes); (3/4) Vaal U of Tech 3 Tukkies B 1.

Other: Central U of Tech 6 Limpopo 0, Pukke B 6 Cape Pens U of Tech 0.

2009 USSA HOCKEY TOURNAMENT TEAMS

Men: (Please note, for the men's team, SA players selected for Africa Cup in Ghana were not considered, while players were only considered who played 3 or more matches at USSA Hockey Week, as this is a Tournament team).

2009 USSA Men's Tournament Team

Goalkeepers: Jacques le Roux (Maties), Ben Mbana (Tukkies).

Defenders: Peter Bailey (NMMU), Oliver Whiteley (UJ), Kyle Rhodes (Tuks), Francois Pretorius (Tuks), David Wilson (Maties).

Links: Jonty Robinson (Tuks), Owen Mvimbi (UJ), Warren Grobler (Maties), Devon van der Merwe (UKZN), Brendon van Zyl (Tuks).

Forwards: Pierre de Voux (Maties), Geowynne Gamiet (NMMU), Brandon Panther (UJ), Duzo Khanyile (UKZN), Tebogo Lerole (UJ), Brett Pampara (Tuks). 

2009 USSA Women's Tournament Team

Goalkeepers: Hanlie Hattingh (Maties), Camille Jasson (UJ).

Defenders: Cindy Brown (Maties), Mapule Mokoena (UJ), Lisa Deetlefs (UJ), Kim Hubach (Tuks), Dirkie Chamberlain (Tuks).

Midfielders: Vida Ryan (Maties), Farah Fredericks (Maties), Lesle-Ann George (Pukke), Loreen Irvine (Pukke), Ncedisa Magwentshu (Wits), Kathleen Taylor (Maties), Lenise Marais (Maties).

Forwards: Vidette Ryan (Maties), Roxy Turner (UJ), Shelley Russell (Maties), Sulette Damons (Pukke).

Umpire grading: Erik Etsebeth (SA 2).

Day 4: Maties and UJ in University Sport men's and women's hockey finals

2 July 2009

JONATHAN COOK
at USSA Hockey Week in Bloemfontein

THE impressive University of The Free State synthetic turf hockey pitches saw some thrilling clashes Thursday, as the University Sport South Africa (USSA) Hockey Week in Bloemfontein entered its penultimate day and with it, the cross-pool playoffs.

The playoffs determine who will play in Friday's men's and women's finals, and in the men's A Section it's going to be the University of Johannesburg (UJ) against the University of Stellenbosch (Maties) at 4.30 pm, while the women's A Section finals will also see UJ tackling Maties (6 pm).

Last year's men's winners in Potchefstroom, University of Pretoria (Tukkies), went down 4-2 to Maties (third in 2008) in a penalty stroke shootout after the score read 0-0 at full-time, this after 2008 finalists UJ beat fifth-placed team last year, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), 4-0 in the first semi-final.

The first women's semi-final saw UJ, fourth last year, beat the third-placed team in 2008, North West University (Pukke), 3-1, while the late game Thursday for the second berth in the final was won 2-0 by defending champions Maties against last year's finalists Tukkies.  

The B Section finals - and the four teams hoping that victory Friday will earn them promotion to the A Section - are the following:
Men: Wits University versus Rhodes University (B field 4 pm).
Women: University of The Free State (Kovsies) versus Rhodes (B Field 2.30 pm).

RESULTS

Men's A Section (playing for places 1-4): University of Johannesburg (UJ) (2) 4 (Owen Mvimbi, Brandon Panther, Olly Whitely, Miguel da Graca) UKZN 0; Maties 0 Tukkies 0 (Maties won penalty stroke shootout 4-2).

(5-8): Nelson Mandela Metro University (NMMU) (3) 6 (Geowynne Gamiet 3, Giovanni Joseph 2, Satch Reddy, Peter Bailey) Kovsies (Free State) (1) 1 (Jaco Fourie); UCT (1) 2 (Mike Heyink, Sean Fielding) Pukke (North West) (1) 2 (Matt Fairweather 2) UCT won penalty stroke shootout 9-8.

Women's A Section (playing for places 1-4): UJ (2) 3 (Pietie Coetzee 2, Lisa Deetlefs) Pukke (1) 1 (Sulette Damons); Maties (0) 2 (Kathleen Taylor, Cindy Brown) Tukkies 0.

 (5-8): UCT (1) 3 (Imogen Holland 2, Jessica Kew); UKZN (0) 1 (Nosipho Dladla); NMMU (0) 1 (Jessie Heatley) Wits 0.

Men's B Section (playing for places 1-4): Wits 6 Tukkies B 1; Rhodes 5 Central U of Tech 1.

Other: Kovsies B (5) University of Namibia 4; Vaal U of Tech 2 University of Limpopo (Turfloop) 0; North Cape Urban FET 4 Cape Pens U of Tech 4 (CPUT won penalty stroke shootout 4-1).  

Women's B Section (playing for places 1-4): Rhodes 0 Vaal U of Tech 0 (Rhodes 6-5 on penalty stroke shootout); Kovsies 1 Tukkies B 1 (Kovsies won 4-2 penalty strokes).

Other: Cape Pens U of Tech 1 Fort Hare 1; Central U of Tech 2 Cape Pens U of Tech 2; Pukke B 8 University of Limpopo (Turfloop) 0.

Usual Suspects heading for USSA Hockey Week finals

30 June 2009

JONATHAN COOK
at USSA Hockey Week in Bloemfontein

THE University of Pretoria's Tukkies men and the Maties girls of Stellenbosch look to be set on defending their University Sport South Africa (USSA) hockey titles with success judging by the happenings on day two of the annual tournament at a crisp University of The Free State (Kovsies) in Bloemfontein Tuesday night.
This 34-team tournament is the biggest in the country after the Masters IPT.
In the top-tier Men's A Section, last year's winners the University of Pretoria (Tukkies) enjoyed a stunning 5-0 victory over University of Cape Town (UCT), who were the late-fightback 3-2 winners over UKZN on Monday.
After 38 minutes Tukkies were one goal to the good via the stick of Mark Holliday, but in the next 19 minutes mayhem broke out as coach Dave Viney's men from Pretoria pumped four goals past UCT. Holliday grabbed another goal from field play, with Nic Gonsalves and Michael Sykes joining the Pretoria boys' party, and Kyle Rhodes slamming in a penalty corner for good measure.
Last year's men's finalists the University of Johannesburg gained a crucial 2-0 victory against Stellenbosch in a battle of wits that saw SA U21 head coach Kurt Cerfontyne (Maties) and his assistant at the recent Junior World Cup, Garreth Ewing, in different corners this time round.
UJ went 1-0 up via a Dean Symons action goal in the 22nd minute – and the rattled Maties then had two players, David Wilson (26th) and Murray Clarke (28th) sent to the sin bin. A Miguel da Graca goal from a penalty corner made the game safe for UJ.
It looks like we are going to see another Battle of Gauteng among the men – Tukkies against UJ – in this year's men's USSA Hockey Week final.
And last season's talented SA U18 hockey striker Symons - alongside his equally talented national U18 team-mate and current UJ strike partner Marc le Sueur – could have a major say should that final come to pass at 7.30 pm on Friday.. 
In the women's A Section, the 2008 winners in Potchefstroom, Maties, were far too good for UJ, overwhelming the Johannesburg team in the second half.
Although they could only get one more goal after the interval through Spar SA striker Vida Ryan to add to Cindy Brown's first-half brace, Maties could have scored a good few more. Louise Coertzen scored UJ's goal that made the first-half-score read 2-1 to Maties.
However, UJ still have a chance to get to Friday's 6 pm final should they (likely) finish second to Maties in Pool A and qualify to tackle the Pool B winners in the semi-finals at 4.30 pm Thursday.
Last year's women's finalists, Tukkies, met North West and the score was 1-1 at the end after the Pretoria team had led 1-0 at half-time through Dirkie Chamberlain. Chantelle Bekker replied for Pukke.
In the B Section, host university Free State's ambitious women (Kovsies) beat University of Fort Hare 7-0.

RESULTS

Men – A Section: Tukkies (1) 5 (Mark Holliday 2, Nic Gonsalves, Kyle Rhodes, Michael Sykes) UCT 0; U of Johannesburg (1) 2 (Dean Symons, Miguel da Graca) Maties 0; UKZN (2) 3 (Duzo Khanyile, Karl Oftebro, Sihle Ntuli) Kovsies (1) 1 (Paul Jordaan); Nelson Mandela Metro U (0) 2 (Nathan Kops, Wesley Wittstock) North West (1) 1 (Matt Fairweather).

Women – A Section: Wits (2) 3 (Kirsten du Toit, Robyn Taylor, Robyn Johnson) UKZN (0) 1 (Nosipho Dladla); Maties (2) 3 (Cindy Brown 2, Vida Ryan) UJ (1) 1 (Louise Coertzen); North West (0) 1 (Chantelle Bekker) Tukkies (1) 1 (Dirkie Chamberlain); UCT (1) 2 (Deidre Potgieter, Keren Robertson) Nelson Mandela Metro U (0) 1 (Jocelyn Coombs).

Men – B Section: North Cape Urban FET 4 Vaal U of Tech 1; Tukkies B 5 Limpopo Turfloop 1; Vaal U of Tech 1 Pukke B 0; Wits 5 Kovsies B 2; Central U of Tech 2 N Cape Urban FET 1; U of Namibia 3 Cape Pens U of Tech 0; Rhodes 4 Tukkies B 2; Central U of Tech 2 Kovsies B 1; Wits 10 Pukke B 1.

Women – B Section: Rhodes 5 Pukke B 0; Tukkies B 5 Cape Pens U of Tech 0; Kovsies 7 Fort Hare 0; Pukke B 4 Central U of Tech 0; Vaal U of Tech 8 Limpopo Turfloop 0; Kovsies 7 Central U of Tech 0.

Cold weather doesn't deter hot hockey at Kovsies
Varsities hockey week on fire

JONATHAN COOK
at USSA Hockey Week in Bloemfontein

Despite the cold weather, there was much to warm the cockles of one's heart on day one of the University Sport South Africa (USSA) Hockey Week at University of the Free State (Kovsies) in Bloemfontein Monday.
In the Men's A Section (the first division), the fancied University of Pretoria (Tuks) beat hosts Free State Varsity (Kovsies) 4-0 after leading by two goals at half-time. All the Tuks goals were field goals with the scorers being Jonty Robinson, captain Brendan van Zyl, Simon O'Callaghan and Malcolm Ratz.
The University of Johannesburg clash with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU of Port Elizabeth) went down to the wire, UJ eventually prevailing 2-1.
After a goalless first half, UJ's Tebogo Lerole opened proceedings from a penalty corner and Joezay Kops equalised for NMMU with 12 minutes to go. The winner came after the final hooter had sounded, umpire Erik Etsebeth correctly awarding a penalty corner to UJ, which meant the set-piece had to be concluded, and Brandon Panther netted a great deflection goal for the winner.
The Maties men versus Pukke match saw the Potch boys start shakily. The Stellenbosch side under SA U21 head coach Kurt Cerfontyne were 3-0 up before the Pukke got back into the game. Although it was fairly even from this point, the Pukke caught fire too late in order to catch the Maties cold.
On a hot-blooded day for the umpires, who got heat from the players on the field and from personnel on the benches, both teams in this match were complimented for their well-disciplined benches.
Tuks' women and NMMU played to a goalless draw in the Women's A Section before University of Stellenbosch (Maties) outplayed University of KZN 8-0 after leading 3-0 at the break. Spar SA striker Farah Fredericks bagged a hat-trick with national team-mates Cindy Brown, Vida Ryan and Kathleen Taylor also getting in on the act.
The Pukke of North West University beat University of Cape Town (UCT) 3-0 with Chantelle Bekker, Lesle-Ann George and Princess Khuzwayo getting among the goals.
The University of The Free State is to be congratulated on a splendid venue, with synthetic turf hockey pitches side-by-side and including proper technical areas on both fields plus a festive clubhouse facility.

RESULTS

Men – A Section: Tukkies (2) 4 (Jonty Robinson, Brendan van Zyl, Simon O'Callaghan, Malcolm Ratz) Kovsies 0; UJ (0) 2 (Tebogo Lerole, Brandon Panther) NMMU (0) 1 (Joezay Kops); UCT (2) 3 (Ant Vervoort 2, Simon van Helsdingen) UKZN (2) 2 (Dalan Phillips, Duzo Khanyile); Maties (2) 3 (Pierre de Voux, Shaun McIntyre, Rob Grant) Pukke (0) 1 (Matt Fairweather).

Women – A Section: Tuks 0 NMMU 0; Maties (3) 8 (Farah Fredericks 3, Candice Manuel 2, Vida Ryan, Cindy Brown, Kath Taylor) UKZN 0; Pukke (1) 3 (Chantelle Bekker, Lesle-Ann George, Princess Khuzwayo) UCT 0; UJ (3) 7 (Bernadette Coston, Roxanne Turner 2, Louise Coertzen, Sarah Harley 2, Nicole de Vries) Wits 0.

Men – B Section: UFS Reds B 2 N Cape Urban FET 2; Rhodes 7 Limpopo Turfloop 1; Wits 3 Central U of Tech 2; Tukkies B 4 Cape Pens U of Tech 0; Pukke B 0 NCU FET 2; UFS Reds 1 Vaal U of Tech 0; Namibia Uni 10 Limpopo 2; Rhodes 3 Cape Pens U of Tech 1; Pukke B 0 Central U of Tech 5. 

Women – B Section: Rhodes 4 Central U of Tech 0; Pukke B 3 Fort Hare 0; Tukkies B 12 Limpopo 0; Vaal U of Tech 6 Cape Pens U of Tech 0; UFS Reds 3 Rhodes 2. 

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