Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Varsity Cup kicks off: UFS ready to shine

13 February 2025 | Story Onthatile Tikoe | Photo Supplied

Shimlas 2024 — The UFS Shimlas lifting the Varsity Cup on their home ground in Bloemfontein after their 2024 victory.

The highly anticipated Varsity Cup is finally here, and the University of the Free State (UFS) is buzzing with excitement! The tournament, which features the top university rugby teams in South Africa, promises to deliver thrilling matches and intense rivalries throughout the rugby season.

After an exhilarating 2024 season, the UFS Shimlas made history by lifting the Varsity Cup trophy on their home ground in Bloemfontein. The team’s impressive performance and dedication earned them a spot in the record books, and they are eager to repeat their success in 2025.

This year’s competition is scheduled to kick off on 17 February 2025 and will run for 7 weeks, with the UFS final game on 31 March 2025. The UFS Shimlas will be looking to defend their title and bring home the coveted trophy once again.

Previous winners

The Varsity Cup has a rich history, with previous winners including:

• UFS Shimlas (2015, 2024)

• Maties (Stellenbosch University, 2008-2010, 2019)

• Tuks (University of Pretoria, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2022)

• UCT Ikey Tigers (2011, 2014)

• FNB NWU (2016, 2023)

UFS ready to take on the best

The UFS Shimlas have been preparing tirelessly for the tournament, with a strong focus on teamwork, discipline, and strategy. Head Coach André Tredoux expressed his excitement about the team’s prospects: “Being the defending champions comes with a bit of pressure, but we don’t see it that way. Our motto is that we want to attack the Varsity Cup, hence the best form of defence is to attack. The boys are really excited. They played well against UJ and scored lots of tries, hence our mindset is to attack everything we put our minds to.”

UFS Shimlas Team Captain Nkoka Ngobe echoed his coach’s sentiments, reinforcing his dedication to leading the team to victory. “As the team captain, I have to lead by example and bring the culture of excellence. I will never ask my teammates to do something that I cannot do, so the important thing for me is doing what it takes so that the boys can do the same.”

Get ready for the action

The Varsity Cup promises to deliver seven weeks of non-stop rugby action, with the UFS Shimlas ready to take on the best university teams in the country. Don’t miss out on the excitement – follow the UFS Shimlas on social media to stay up to date and get ready to cheer them on to victory!

Let’s go, Shimlas!

News Archive

UFS and BMF present a crash course on Financial Literacy for Young Entrepreneurs

2017-08-23

Starting a business, big or small, can be a really difficult task – especially if you are not equipped with the basic business knowledge to help you kick-start this project.

For this reason, the University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with the Black Management Forum (BMF), held a Financial Literacy Workshop for Young Entrepreneurs on the Bloemfontein Campus early last week to assist in this regard.

Young entrepreneurs equipped with business knowledge for start-ups
The purpose of the workshop, which was presented by Francois Marais and Eduard Loots from Riskflow, was to equip young entrepreneurs with knowledge and skills to assist them in the business world. The main focus was on training start-up businesses to prepare business plans, and training was given to researchers, developers, and innovators on how to commercialise their inventions.

Ansie Barnard, Senior Officer in the UFS Business School, says since the involvement of the school in entrepreneurship development over the past few years, they came to the realisation that many of these new businesses tend to fail within a year because they do not have a suitable financial model.

“This is the reason why we utilised Riskflow Financial Modelling Software, since it does all the accounting calculations on their behalf,” says Barnard.

Introduction to basic business banking
In addition to this, the participants were introduced to the basics of business banking, with Standard Bank and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as the guest presenters providing them with this information.

BMF’s Rozanne Brown says that many of these young entrepreneurs have the desire to succeed in business; therefore there is a need for this type of workshop.

BMF and the UFS Business School will look into hosting more entrepreneurial workshops in the future,” says Brown. All attendees of the workshop will receive certificates for their participation.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept