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Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa part of minister Blade Nzimande’s delegation to China

12 June 2025 | Story André Damons | Photo Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation

Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa, a specialist in indigenous knowledge systems from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of the Free State (UFS), is part of a delegation with Prof Blade Nzimande, minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI), to the Second Ministerial Belt and Road Science and Technology conference (BRT) in China.

The conference is being held in Chengdu from 11-12 June 2025 and will gather representatives from state-level agencies, scientific academies, and innovation enterprises from countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, including members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The theme of the conference is “Together for Innovation, Development for All – Jointly Building a Scientific and Technological Innovation Community for the Belt and Road”.

Prof Matsabisa, Research Director of the African Medicines Innovations and Technologies Development at the UFS, is the only person from a South African university to be invited by Prof Nzimande as part of this ministerial trip. Other members of the delegation include members from the minister’s department, CEOs and board members of agencies that report to the DSTI – namely Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), National Advisory Council on Innovation, Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa, South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions, National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF), National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), South African National Space Agency and the National Research Foundation (NRF).

As a guest professor at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM) in Beijing, Prof Matsabisa accompanied the delegation on a visit to the university where he has a longstanding relationship. The UFS has the only active university collaboration within the China-South African Science and Technology bilateral agreement.

Supporting around aspects of traditional medicine

According to a statement on the South African government website, Prof Nzimande expressed the department’s intention to strengthen collaboration with the Beijing University and the Aerospace Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in the areas of indigenous knowledge systems and space science, respectively. The minister visited both the BUCM and the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences this week.

“It is an honour to be part of the minister’s delegation given that I am the only person from a university amongst the agencies. The UFS is indeed very honoured to have been the only one identified to be in this ministerial trip. I am honoured to make connections with the decision-makers such as the chairperson of the board of TIA and the CEO of NSTF and all the other CEOs. It’s indeed an honour to share our work with people from NACI and the minister’s office at DSTI. This really could not have been a better opportune moment for me,” says Prof Matsabisa.

According to him, he is there to support Prof Nzimande around aspects of traditional medicine as well as with his meeting with the Chinese Minister of Science and Technology during the signing of a letter of intent on traditional medicines including in the BRT conference where the minister will give a talk that will cover traditional medicines. Prof Matsabisa says he is looking forward to strengthening the relationships between the UFS and BUCM and China as well as sharing with the minister the joint projects and joint students from both institutions, hoping for continued support and funding.

“This trip has opened new opportunities. TIA has invited me and the UFS to be part of their new project on neurodegenerative diseases with Cuba. It was wonderful to hear that both the CEO and the chairperson of the board had already been briefed about me to be part of the project.

“It is also great to be present at the signing of the letter of intent on traditional medicine as it is important to know where the policies are heading.”

News Archive

UFS Council adopts guidelines for the development of a new Language Policy

2015-12-04

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) adopted the following guidelines from the report by the Language Committee regarding the development of a new Language Policy for the UFS, based on the core values of inclusivity and multilingualism:

that English becomes the primary medium of instruction in undergraduate education and, as largely exists already, in postgraduate education.
that the UFS embeds and enables a language-rich environment committed to multilingualism, with particular attention to Afrikaans, Sesotho, isiZulu, and other languages represented on the three campuses.
that an expanded tutorial system be available to especially first-year students in Afrikaans, Sesotho, isiZulu and other languages, in order to facilitate the transition to English instruction.
that the parallel-medium policy continues in particular professional programmes, given the well-defined Afrikaans markets that, at the moment, still makes such language-specific graduate preparation relevant.
that the language of administration be English.
that the English-medium language policy be implemented with flexibility and understanding, rather than as a rigid rule disregarding the circumstances.

These guidelines were adopted at the Council meeting which took place on the Bloemfontein Campus on Friday 4 December 2015.

“This important and emotive matter was discussed in a high-quality, open debate and I am satisfied with the way the decision was reached,” says Judge Ian van der Merwe, Chairperson of the UFS Council.

The decision by Council comes after a mandate was given to the University Management on 4 June 2015 to conduct a review of the institutional Language Policy. A Language Committee was subsequently established by the University Management Committee (UMC) to undertake a comprehensive review of the existing parallel-medium policy and to make recommendations on the way forward with respect to the university's Language Policy.

The Language Committee conducted a comprehensive consultation process on the future of the Language Policy with all university stakeholders. This included multiple dialogue and submissions sessions, as well as an opinion poll on all three campuses.

Guided by the Council resolution of 4 December 2015, the UFS management will now proceed to design a Language Policy that would be presented to the UMC and Senate for voting purposes again, which vote would be formally presented to Council at one of its governance meetings in 2016. The Institutional Forum, a statutory body that represents all university stakeholders, would also advise Council at that stage, per its mandate, on the new Language Policy.

In the event that a new Language Policy is accepted by Council in 2016, the earliest possible date for implementation would be January 2017.

http://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item?news=6567 (26 November 2015)
http://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item?news=6540 (28 October 2015)
http://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item?news=6521 (20 October 2015)
http://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item?news=6469 (30 August 2015)
http://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item?news=6444 (25 August 2015)

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