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12 February 2025 | Story Lacea Loader
University of the Free State Logo
On 12 February 2025, disruption of academic activities occurred on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS); this followed the disruptions that occurred on 11 February 2025. On the Qwaqwa Campus, attempts to disrupt academic activities also occurred on 12 February 2024.

A memorandum of demands from the Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) was handed over to the university management on 11 February 2025, to which management responded; these demands are related to registration and funding. 

Financial concessions have been granted to students on two occasions so far this year to enable them to register. On 10 February 2025, the university granted follow-up concessions.

Furthermore, the institution’s Financial Working Group (FWG) – which includes representatives from the Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) – met regularly to determine how it could best assist students to register, taking into consideration the financial constraints of the university.

On the Bloemfontein Campus, 15 students were arrested on 12 February 2025 for transgression of the interdict; internal disciplinary processes are being instituted.

The university’s Protection Services has activated its protest management security escalation plan in accordance with the UFS Protest Management Policy; the situation on the campuses is being closely monitored.

All classes are continuing as normal, and no classes have been suspended. 

It is important to note the NSFAS-related progress made up until now: 

  • NSFAS funding has been confirmed and allocated to 25 551 students.
  • 22 246 of these students have already been successfully registered for the academic year.
  • NSFAS allowances were paid to 14 303 registered students on 3 February 2025.
  • On 17 February 2025, interim allowances will be paid to 7 943 students who were not registered at the time of the first round of payments.
Financial concessions have been granted to students during two occasions so far this year. On 10 February 2025, the university granted the following follow-up concessions: 

1. NSFAS-funded students

Criteria:

  • NSFAS funding for 2025 must be confirmed and reflected on the acknowledgement of debt (AOD) or registration verification document.
  • Historic debt may not exceed R35 000.

Concessions:

  • No payment is required.
  • Students will be eligible for full registration.

Criteria: 

  • NSFAS funding for 2025 must be confirmed and reflected on the acknowledgement of debt (AOD) or registration verification document.
  • Historic debt exceeding R35 000 but not exceeding R50 000.
      Concessions:
  • No payment is required.
  • Students will be eligible for provisional registration. Provisional registration applications must be submitted, and all other terms and conditions will apply.
2. Returning self-paying South African students:

Criteria:
  • Historic debt must not exceed R35 000.
  • Must sign an acknowledgment of debt (AOD).
Concessions:
  • No payment is required.
  • Students will be eligible for provisional registration. Provisional registration applications must be submitted, and all other terms and conditions will apply.
3. Final-year students:
  • Students with an average mark of above 60% were assisted with Monitoring bursaries.
  • 2025 final-year students with an average mark of between 50% and 60% will be assisted with the following concessions.  
Criteria:
  • Final-year students with a pass rate of between 50 and 60% and with outstanding fees up to a maximum of R60 000 to register provisionally.
Concessions:
  • No payment is required.
  • Students must complete a provisional registration application and attach an AOD, covering historic debt plus the first payment required for 2025 registration. 
4. Postgraduate students 
  • The Department of Finance is in contact with the Centre for Postgraduate Support to fast-track funding confirmations.
  • Postgraduate students who have studied at other institutions and wish to register at the UFS must contact Student Finance for possible assistance with registration.

News Archive

UFS committed to a two-language model
2010-08-13

  Prof. Jonathan Jansen

The University of the Free State (UFS) will continue to use a two-language model while it builds capacity for research and teaching in Sotho languages.

This was announced by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, when he delivered the 29th DF Malherbe Memorial Lecture on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein yesterday, on the topic: The politics and prospects of Afrikaans, and Afrikaans schools and universities.

“In the course of time black students will learn Afrikaans, white students will learn Sesotho, and all students will learn decent English,” he said.

“Classes will remain in English and Afrikaans, especially in the first years of study. Dual-medium classrooms will break down the racial isolation where outstanding university teachers are comfortable in both languages. Parallel-medium classes will exist where large numbers enable such a facility.”

He said schools and higher education institutions that continue to use language as an instrument of exclusion, rather than inclusion, would remain “culturally and linguistically impoverished”. He said the future of Afrikaans in these institutions lay in its inter-dependence and co-existence with other languages.

“A strong two-language model of education, whether in the form of double- or parallel-medium instruction within a racially integrated campus environment is the only way in which Afrikaans can and should flourish in a democratic South Africa,” he said.

“It is the only model that resolves two problems at the same time: the demand for racial equity, on the one hand, and the demand for language recognition, on the other hand.”

He said the idea of an exclusively Afrikaans university was a “dangerous” one.

“It will lock up white students in a largely uni-racial and uni-lingual environment, given that the participation rates in higher education for Afrikaans-speaking black students are and for a long time will remain very low,” he said.

“This will be a disaster for many Afrikaans-speaking students for it will mean that the closed circles of social, cultural and linguistic socialization will remain uninterrupted from family to school to university.

“Rather than prepare students for a global world marked by language flexibility and cultural diversity, students will remain locked into a sheltered racial environment at the very stage where most South African students first experience the liberation of the intellect and the broadening of opportunities for engaging with the world around them.

“The choice at the Afrikaans universities, therefore, must never be a choice between Afrikaans and English; it must be both.”

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (actg)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell:   083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
13 August 2010

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