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Shining a spotlight on the heroes of the UFS food environment

07 January 2025 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Anja Aucamp

Food Garden — Students transport fresh vegetables from the university's sustainable vegetable tunnels for distribution to their peers. These vegetables play a role in promoting healthy eating habits and ensuring students have access to healthy meals, making a difference in their overall well-being and academic success.

“I’m writing this email to express my gratitude for what you and your office do. I don’t think you can fully understand how grateful I am for the food parcels. I’m able to go to bed with food in my stomach, all because of you and your team, and for that, I am so thankful. Before I found out about your office, I was stressed about where my next meal would come from. Now, I perform incredibly well in my studies. I honestly pray and hope that the office continues to receive the support it needs to continue being of assistance to those in need.”

This letter is one of many received by the UFS Food Environment Office, highlighting the important role the university plays in supporting students struggling with food insecurity.

Healthy food choices

Five years ago, the university established the institutional Food Environment Committee (FETC) to provide guidance and recommendations to the university administration on matters relating to the food environment of the university. The aim of the FETC is to promote healthy and sustainable food choices across all three UFS campuses.

The committee is also responsible for assessing the food needs of vulnerable groups to ensure inclusive and accessible programmes, overseeing strategy implementation, and advocating participation across the campus. Additionally, they ensure that university policies do not detract from the policies and activities of the Food Environment Strategy in order to promote a culture of health and wellness across the UFS. The committee also engages in continuous planning and budgeting to keep the strategy relevant and effective.

Some of their key strategic objectives include strengthening sustainability through more collaborative food projects and partnerships. They also aim to improve food security by increasing affordable, nutritious meal options. These also talk to the number of students supported through food bursaries, and the quantity of food items distributed through food banks. Other goals focus on ensuring dignity and inclusivity, and activating residences, student associations, and faculty organisations in the food environment programme.

Dr WP Wahl, Director of Student Life in the Division of Student Affairs, explains that the committee includes stakeholders from academic, support services, and student groups. Its purpose is to oversee different priority projects within the institution that speak to addressing hunger and malnutrition among students. Key members include Student Affairs, the Student Representative Council, food service providers, Kovsie Act, and faculty representatives, such as the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics in the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. These departments play a vital role in empowering and educating students, sharing information through videos, podcasts, and recipes on Facebook, the Food Environment webpage, and the Student Newsletter, as well as the Eat&Succeed page on Blackboard.

The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics is also closely involved in research, ensuring that decisions are based on scientific data. For instance, they compiled the 2021 and 2022 UFS Food Environment Task Committee Report, revealing that only 27% of UFS students are food secure, with 74% experiencing various degrees of food insecurity. In 2022, 39% of students reported going without food for a day because they could not afford it, and for 13%, this was almost a daily occurrence.

This research also examined, among others, eating patterns, food purchasing behaviours, and preparation habits that guide decisions to improve the university’s food environment and inform messaging to students.

Also playing a key role in executing the goals of the committee is the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development and Kovsie Act with the vegetable tunnels that were created on the Bloemfontein Campus and now on the South Campus for a sustainable flow of fresh produce that is channelled towards the food bank.

A supportive environment

The goal of promoting collaboration and mutually beneficial partnerships is to make a difference in the food environment at the university. Annelize Visagie, who is heading the Food Environment Office, highlights the university’s partnerships with major sponsors such as Gift for the Givers and Tiger Brands, who assist with food parcels. The No Student Hungry Programme (NSH) also has donors supporting its bursary initiative.

Since 2011, the university has made great strides in combating food insecurity through the NSH, which has supported the graduation of 875 students. Visagie finds it particularly rewarding to witness these graduates celebrate their achievements alongside their families, who express gratitude for the assistance provided. Such moments affirm the positive impact of their efforts in creating a supportive environment for students in need.

News Archive

UFS hosts the first Southern African Young Scientists Summer Programme

2012-11-26

The University of the Free State is to host the first Southern African Young Scientists Summer Programme (SA-YSSP) from 1 December 2012 to 28 February 2013.

This will form part of an annual three-month education, academic training and research capacity-building programme jointly organised by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), based in Austria.

The NRF, as the National Member Organisation (NMO), in collaboration with DST, has developed a novel and innovative initiative with IIASA to establish the SA-YSSP. This programme was officially launched by the Minister of Science and Technology during November 2011.

IIASA is an international research organisation that conducts policy-oriented scientific research in the three global problem areas of energy and climate change, food and water and poverty and equity (www.iiasa.ac.at). South Africa’s engagements with IIASA, and specifically with regard to the SA-YSSP, relate primarily to the DST’s Ten-Year Innovation Plan.

Aligned with the YSSP model that is presented by IIASA in Austria annually, the SA-YSSP offers scientific seminars covering themes in both the social and natural sciences. These seminars often have policy dimensions and aim to broaden the participants’ perspectives and strengthen their analytical and modelling skills, further enriching a demanding academic and research programme (www.ufs.ac.za/sa-yssp).

Keynote lectures are to be delivered by national and international leaders in their respective research fields, partly drawn from IIASA’s widespread network of alumni and collaborators, as well as from the NRF’s extensive international networks of excellence.

The programme is to be enhanced with specific field trips and cultural and heritage excursions that will involve networking with locally based research programmes. Supervisory teams of both IIASA and South African experts will guide a cohort of competitively selected South African and international advanced Ph.D candidates.

The programme will be opened on 2 December 2012 at the Centenary Complex by the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Derek Hanekom, the Director/CEO of IIASA, Prof Pavel Kabat and the Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Jonathan Jansen. They will be joined by a number of Nobel Prize Laureates and luminaries representing the government, the diplomatic sector and Higher Education.

The programme is directed by a multidisciplinary team at the UFS that includes:

Prof Aldo Stroebel and Prof Neil Roos (Co-Directors)

Prof André Roodt (Dean of SA-YSSP)

Prof Martin Ntwaeaborwa and Dr Henriëtte van den Berg (Deputy-Deans of SA-YSSP)

Dr Priscilla Mensah and Dr Sonja Loots (Strategic Managers)

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