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UFS prepares to celebrate Class of 2024

28 March 2025 | Story Tshepo Tsotetsi | Photo Supplied

faculty of the Humanities graduation — Congratulations to our UFS leaders of the future!

As the leaves turn and autumn settles over the Free State, a new season of celebration is upon us. Gowns are being dusted off, caps are ready to be tossed, and excitement is building as the University of the Free State (UFS) prepares to honour the Class of 2024. From 4 to 5 April 2025, the Qwaqwa Campus will host its graduation ceremonies, followed by the Bloemfontein Campus from 8 to 12 April 2025.

This year, a total of 7 994 students will walk the stage, marking a significant moment in their academic journeys. The university will host 20 graduation ceremonies across its Qwaqwa and Bloemfontein Campuses, celebrating the accomplishments of graduates across all faculties. In addition to awarding degrees and diplomas, the UFS will also confer three honorary doctorates, recognising exceptional contributions in various fields.

Graduation is more than just a ceremony; it is a defining moment. It marks the end of years of late-night studying, countless assignments, and moments of self-doubt. But more importantly, it signals the beginning of something new. Armed with their degrees, the UFS graduates will soon step into the world beyond university, ready to make their mark.

At the UFS, excellence is more than a value – it is a standard. Every graduate walking across the stage embodies the university’s commitment to producing individuals who are not only knowledgeable but also adaptable, resilient, and prepared for the ever-changing demands of the world. This is at the heart of Vision 130, UFS’s roadmap to 2034, which focuses on shaping graduates who will contribute meaningfully to both local and global communities.

For the Class of 2024, the journey has been long, challenging, and rewarding. Now, as they prepare to walk the stage, one thing is certain: the future is theirs to shape.

WATCH: 2025 Graduation Livestream

Click here to see the full schedule for the 2025 April graduations.

News Archive

IRSJ Research Fellow promotes human rights transformation

2017-10-05

Dr Joanne Coysh and Dr Sahar Sattarzadeh attend the
launch of Human Rights Education and
the Politics of Knowledge.
Photo: Luis Escobedo D’Angles

Dr Joanne Coysh is a multi-talented individual who has designed, facilitated, and accompanied participatory processes for research, learning, and change. She is also a postdoctoral research fellow from the University of Warwick, in the UK, and is working at the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ) at the UFS. Dr Coysh’s book, Human Rights Education and the Politics of Knowledge, was launched at the Centenary Complex on the Bloemfontein Campus by the IRSJ on 15 August 2017.

Connecting theory with practice
In the book, she argues that the traditional ways in which human rights education is conducted often become an obstacle. Based on her work on participatory group processes, Dr Coysh is uniquely positioned to bring a different and more practical, even radical, angle to the process of human rights education. Her purpose with the book is to connect theory to practice in order to design processes through which people begin to take positive and transformative decisions and actions. These not only have the potential to transform lives but our relationships with each other and the world in which we live as well.

Teaching and learning from the bottom up
When working with individuals and groups, Dr Coysh believes that they should be engaged, enabled, and empowered throughout the process. Not only does she explore real problems in context, but when doing her work, she also believes in encouraging respect for existing research and knowledge.

Her international experience in education and working in communities has allowed her to integrate global best practices into local application, allowing her to explore the big picture as well as local context. Having mastered the art of balancing theory with practice, research with reality, and facilitation with integration, her book shows how this dance can turn human rights education into human rights transformation.

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