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UFS Green Campus Initiative secures 4th consecutive Best Exhibition Award

18 July 2025 | Story Precious Shamase

UFS Green Campus Initiative Team — The UFS Green Campus Initiative team after being announced winners for the fourth consecutive year.

The University of the Free State (UFS) is celebrating an outstanding achievement at the 12th Annual Green Campuses Conference (GCC) 2025, where its dynamic Green Campus Initiative (GCI) team from the Qwaqwa Campus clinched the coveted Best Exhibition Award. This marks an unprecedented fourth consecutive year that the UFS has secured this prestigious accolade, highlighting its unwavering commitment to sustainability and innovation within the higher education landscape.

Hosted by Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, the conference was presented by the Association of College and University Housing Officers - International (ACUHO-I) under the profoundly relevant theme, Ubuntu and Environment: African Indigenous Knowledge in Sustainability. Endorsed by the Department of Higher Education and Training, the GCC serves as a pivotal platform for institutions of higher learning across South Africa to exchange vital knowledge, share best practices, and explore groundbreaking innovations in environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation.

The UFS GCI team's exhibition captivated judges and attendees alike with its exceptional creativity, innovative spirit, and profound dedication to envisioning a greener future. "The creativity, innovation, and commitment to sustainability shone through every detail of the display," remarked residential head Itumeleng Lebusho, "a true reflection of what it means to envision a greener future".

The five students who represented the institution were Amukelani Ngobeni, Minenhle Mnguni, Sinenhlanhla Mathabela, Charmaine Nokubonga Nkosi, and Thandolwethu Nyathikazi.

A cornerstone of the student-driven conference, the GCC featured three main categories: project presentations, a runway showcase, and the highly anticipated exhibition. UFS students excelled across the board, demonstrating their ingenuity in tackling real-world campus challenges with sustainable solutions.

A particularly notable project was the student-designed mobile trolley. Addressing a common predicament faced by students transporting groceries from the main gate to their residences due to campus restrictions on taxis for security reasons, the team engineered an innovative solution. This solar-powered mobile trolley, equipped with batteries and a motor, began as a prototype in 2024 and has since evolved into a testament to student-led problem-solving. While the current iteration requires a Code 8 driver's licence to operate, its potential to revolutionise campus mobility is clear.

The conference's annual theme encourages participants to devise sustainable solutions to problems faced on campus, a challenge that the UFS GCI team has embraced with remarkable success.

The UFS' consistent triumph at the GCC is a testament to the dedication and sacrifice of its students, whose forward-thinking ideas continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in campus greening. "The students worked in a way that we never imagined," expressed Desiree Motsele, Residence Head within Housing and Residence Affairs. "The ideas that they come up with are truly inspiring."

By actively participating in this significant event, the UFS is not only strengthening its commitment to creating a green campus but also fostering a healthy learning and living environment. This continued dedication prioritises sustainability, advances energy efficiency, champions resource conservation, and promotes environmental stewardship, solidifying the UFS' position as a leader in sustainable practices within South African higher education.

The Director: Student Affairs, Zoleka Dotwana, said she would like to congratulate the students on yet another gold they won at the GCI 2025. “The effort, the hard work, the commitment you have shown, has once again raised our UFS flag high. I hope the experience and the graduate attributes you have learnt in preparing your project will go a long way in providing you with great opportunities when you leave our shores. It has been an awesome journey over the four years, one that we hold dear and that will remain in the history books of our campus. Thank you for flying our flag high - Only a Kovsie knows the feeling!' said an ecstatic Dotwana.

News Archive

Socially inclusive teaching provides solution to Grade 4 literacy challenges

2017-01-23

Mots’elisi Malebese, postdoctoral Fellow of the Faculty
of Education at the University of the Free State (UFS) tackles
Grade 4 literacy challenges.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

Imagine a teaching approach that inculcates richness of culture and knowledge to individual learners, thus enhancing equity, equality, social justice, freedom, hope and fairness in terms of learning opportunities for all, regardless of learners’ diversity.

This teaching strategy was introduced by Mots’elisi Malebese, postdoctoral Fellow of the Faculty of Education at the University of the Free State (UFS), whose thesis focuses on bringing together different skills, knowledge and expertise in a classroom environment in order to enhance learners’ competence in literacy.

A teaching approach to aid Grade 4 literacy competency
Titled, A Socially Inclusive Teaching Strategy to Respond to Problems of Literacy in a Grade 4 Class, Malebese’s post-doctoral research refers to an approach that improves listening, speaking, reading, writing, technical functioning and critical thinking. Malebese, who obtained her PhD qualification in June this year, says her research confirmed that, currently, Grade 4 is a bottleneck stage, at which learners from a low socio-economic background fall behind in their learning due to the transition from being taught in their home language to English as a medium of instruction.

Malebese, says: “My study, therefore, required practical intervention through participatory action research (PAR) to create conditions that foster space for empowerment.”

PAR indoctrinates a democratic way of living that is equitable, liberating and life-enhancing, by breaking away from traditional teaching methods. It involves forming coalitions with individuals with the least social, cultural and economic power.

Malebese’s thesis was encouraged by previous research that revealed that a lack of readiness for a transitional phase among learners, teachers’ inability to teach literacy efficiently, and poor parental involvement, caused many learners to experience a wide variety of learning barriers.

A co-teaching model was adopted in an effort to create a more socially inclusive classroom. This model involves one teacher providing every learner with the assistance he or she needs to succeed, while another teacher moves around the room and provides assistance to individual learners.

“Learners’ needs are served best by allowing them to demonstrate understanding in a variety of ways, because knowledge is conveyed and accomplished through collaborative work,” Malebese said.

She believes the most important benefit of this model is assuring that learners become teachers of their understanding and experiences through gained knowledge.

Roleplayers get involved using diverse expertise in their field
Teachers, parents and several NGOs played a vital role in Malebese’s study by getting involved in training, sewing and cooking clubs every weekend and during school holidays. English was the medium of teaching and learning in every activity. A lodge, close to the school, offered learners training in mountain biking and hiking. These activities helped learners become tour guides. Storyteller Gcina Mhlophe presented learners with a gift of her latest recorded storytelling CD and books. Every day after school, learners would read, and have drama lessons once a week.

AfriGrow, an organisation that works with communities, the government and the corporate sector to develop sustainable community-driven livelihoods through agricultural and nutrition programmes, provided learners with seedlings, manure and other garden inputs and training on how to start a sustainable food garden. The children were also encouraged to participate in sporting activities like soccer and netball.

“I was aware that I needed a large toolbox of instructional strategies, and had to involve other stakeholders with diverse expertise in their field,” Malebese said.

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