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UFS hosts global summit to advance student well-being

23 July 2025 | Story Tshepo Tsotetsi | Photo Kaleidoscope Studios

Global Student Well-being Summit 2025 — Students from across South Africa and the continent gathered at the University of the Free State’s South Campus for the 2025 Global Student Well-Being Summit, engaging in three days of dialogue, learning, and collaboration.

The University of the Free State (UFS) recently hosted the 2025 Global Student Well-being Summit, bringing together more than 20 institutions from across South Africa and the African continent. The three-day event, which took place from 16 to 18 July at the UFS South Campus, was themed ‘Co-Creating Student Well-being Strategies from the Student’s Perspective’ and positioned students at the centre of the conversation on well-being in higher education.

Universities such as the University of Zambia, National University of Lesotho, University of Namibia, the international Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, and 15 South African universities were among those represented by students, academics, institutional leaders, and wellness experts. Together, they tackled pressing issues related to mental health, academic pressure, inclusion, identity, and care in university spaces.

Building a culture of well-being and collaboration

“We came here to address the critical issues that our students are facing, especially in relation to student well-being,” said Dr Temba Hlasho, Executive Director of Student Affairs at UFS, in his opening remarks. “In today’s fast-paced and demanding academic landscape, student well-being is essential for academic success, personal growth, and future career prospects.”

The summit’s programme included plenaries and parallel sessions covering a broad range of topics such as healthy masculinity, transactional sex, stigma and discrimination, and the struggles of minority groups in higher education. These sessions were led by a combination of students and staff, reflecting the summit’s commitment to co-creation.

In a recorded address, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof Hester C. Klopper highlighted the need for a collective response to student well-being across institutions and national borders. “They are part of a shared human experience that demands a shared response,” she said. “Students are not merely receivers of academic knowledge – they are whole human beings… carrying hopes and fears, dreams and anxieties.”

Prof Klopper also pointed to the need for honesty and vulnerability in the sector. “We should not be scared to fail – as long as we fail forward,” she said, adding that innovation in student support comes not only from sharing best practices but from learning what doesn’t work.

Student participants described the summit as eye-opening and deeply personal. “I realised that mental health is crucial, serving as the driving force behind daily functioning,” said Olwethu Sigcu, a BCom in Economics and Finance (extended) student from the UFS Bloemfontein Campus. “I previously overlooked its significance, but the summit motivated me to adopt a more comprehensive approach to health – considering physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.”

Institutional Student Representative Council President Mpho Maloka said the experience offered both leadership growth and personal transformation. “As a young woman navigating complex spaces, I was given an opportunity to grow that I didn’t even know I needed,” she said. “This summit is not just another checkbox on a list of student initiatives – it represents a culture.”

Dr Hlasho also noted that the outcomes of the summit align with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). He encouraged students to lead the shift towards healthier, more inclusive communities, stressing the need for long-term impact driven by young people.

The summit closed with a clear message: student well-being is not a side programme but is foundational to academic success and meaningful social change. And it must be co-created with students, not for them.

News Archive

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC

2005-08-03

The UFS Central SRC

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC of the University of the Free State, Mr Tello Motloung on Wednesday 3 August 2003

The Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke,
The Vice-chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie
The Vice-Rector Student Affairs of the UFS, Dr Ezekiel Moraka
The Presidents of the main campus SRC and the Vista campus SRC
Colleagues in the Central SRC, campus SRCs, students and fellow South Africans

Please receive my heartfelt revolutionary greetings

Vice-chancellor and rector what I bring here with me assisted by facts, is just the work of my imagination. Like a love letter addressed to a sweetheart miles away, even though you do not know how she feels, what she wants to hear, and do not even know what she looks like.

I value speech as just an honest intimation, that’s why I got into a habit of establishing a dialogue with people, looking at each other’s face, and persuading one another of what we are saying.

Vice-chancellor, today marks an important milestone in the history of the existence of the UFS. Today reflects the confidence and trust that students of the UFS have placed in us. They are confident that the Central SRC has both the will and the capacity to take our university forward as we confront the challenge of transformation.

Students are confident that they are correct to trust the Central SRC as the principal agent of change in our university that is genuinely committed to the objective of building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic university. We need to frankly ask ourselves, as CSRC members, whether are we up to all these challenges?

All Central SRC members have to understand this fully, internalize it, and ensure that everything we do, does not betray the confidence and trust of students, or disappoint their expectations. I say this knowing that all Central SRC members have committed themselves to serve the students of the UFS, black and white, and no one among us (CSRC) needs any special lectures about this central commitment.

The UFS should be an omnibus, welcoming everybody on board. But we should be a bus with a clear direction. We will certainly lose our way if we, as an institution, don’t have a clear road map spelling out where we are heading to.

There should be clear guidelines on the role of students in the transformation process. Students should also be viewed as role players in transformation along with the University management, and not just opposing forces. There is no right time, other than this one, to move away from the politics of opposition to politics of transformation.

However, we need the support of management to do so. The University should value the role and contribution of student leaders, hear our legitimate claims and consider them as part of political and policy decision making.

Vice-chancellor and Rector, it remains our task to ensure that the UFS is transformed into an institution that is seen to be playing a vigilant role in developing students academically, intellectually, socially, culturally, politically and otherwise. The process of transformation is not ending tonight, it is just beginning tonight.

Judge Hancke, Prof Fourie, Dr Moraka, fellow students and fellow South Africans, I lead students at this university with a sense of pride and duty, and I know very well that I lead men and women, students who are all determined that we reach our destination safely and on time.

A navy divided within its ranks will be destroyed and vanquished by the enemy, but the navy united in purpose and action, loyalty and commitment will not sink but sail on to victory.

It is befitting to mention that every drop of my blood is telling me that the UFS is my home. I firstly became a student here, I became the SRC treasurer in my first year here, I became the deputy president here, and I became the first president of the Central SRC of the UFS.

Therefore you should never doubt my commitment towards the transformation of this university. To paraphrase what was said by students at another institution, “If there is no UFS in heaven, then I am not going.”

Let me conclude by thanking my ancestors for teaching me that even if I wined and dined with kings and queens, I am not a king myself, so I should not turn my back on people who made me what I am today.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the Almighty God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving me time and power to lead this university.

It will be theoretically irresponsible if I ended my speech without indicating that “Only a Kovsie knows the feeling”.

I thank you.

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