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30 May 2025
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Story Prof Mikateko Mathebula
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Photo Supplied
Pictured (from left to right): Prof Faith Mkwananzi, Dr Kapambwe Mwelwa, Prof Lochner Marais, Prof Chikumbutso Manthalu, and Prof Mikateko Mathebula.
Through collaborative agreements with the University of Malawi and the University of Zambia, the University of the Free State (UFS) has established the Research Alliance for Higher Education in Africa (RAHEdA), a dynamic initiative aimed at enhancing research capacity and partnerships within Sub-Saharan Africa.
The collaborative agreements align with the UFS’s Vision 130 strategy in relation to internationalisation, emphasising the important role that intra-African mobility visits play in establishing relationships with universities on the continent. It also fosters knowledge exchange and engagement and allows for careful planning and strategy meetings.
“During these discussions, an ambitious but feasible roadmap was laid out for the next three to five years,” Prof Mkwananzi said. “These activities include online workshops for staff and postgraduate students at all partner institutions, and a new webinar series that focuses on profiling, advancing, and celebrating thought leaders, higher education scholars, and scholarship in Africa.”
The inaugural webinar was held on 21 May 2025. Speaker Prof Siseko Kumalo, Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg’s Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies, spoke on ‘Orality as the Bulwark of the Humanities?’, set the bar high for the webinar series through his compelling and original response to this timely question, as scholars around the world contemplate appropriate responses to the rise and influence of artificial intelligence in higher education teaching, learning, and assessment.
Funding to support RAHEdA has been generously provided by Prof Melanie Walker, Distinguished Professor and SARChI Chair in Higher Education and Human Development.
• For information on how to get involved and for updates on RAHEdA, please contact Prof Mikateko Mathebula at MathebulaM@ufs.ac.za
Kovsies paint Bethlehem red!
2010-03-20
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At the matric evening of the Secondary School Witteberg in Bethlehem were, from the left: Lebogang Motaung; Rozelle Venter; Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS; Ernest Bezuidenhout; Donald Motaung; and Mr Rudi Buys, Dean of Student Affairs at the UFS.
Photo: Lynda Greyling |
“The learners of the High School Witteberg are a wonderful example of the quality of students that we can expect as first years here at Kovsies next year,” Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS) said last night during a matric evening attended by 121 Grade 12 learners and their parents in a packed hall at the Secondary School Witteberg in Bethlehem.
Prof. Jansen and his wife Grace, as well as some of his colleagues were guests of honour at the event.
“We want to make a difference in the lives of our students at Kovsies and we want to ensure that our students make a difference in a divided world. This is why I want each Grade 12 learner who is here tonight to come and study at the UFS,” he told the learners and their parents.
“The UFS is going to become the university in the country that is serious about quality. We want to draw the best students. Quality entails hard work. It is about perseverance and your commitment towards your studies. That is the type of students we want.”
“My door is open to our students and they have access to come and talk to me. I also regularly sit at different places on the campus and then invite students to come and talk to me. I want our students to feel at home here.”
“I also want our students to feel free to talk about the use of language at the UFS. We love Afrikaans, English and Sesotho and are not going to fight about language. We are going to develop the use of Afrikaans so that more students can speak it – and this also goes for English and Sesotho.”
Prof. Jansen said that Kovsie students had to be balanced students. “Our students must also excel in sport, art, etc., because the development of students who are properly prepared for the workplace is what we strive for as a tertiary institution. Therefore we are going to establish an office that assists students in their career preparation and will offer students internships so that they can come into contact with leading firms in the commerce and industry sectors.”
“However, we shall also actively enhance our students’ learning experience and therefore we are going to send a group of first-year students overseas in the second semester this year to gain knowledge about issues like integration and collaboration.”
At the occasion Prof. Jansen announced that bursaries to study at the UFS in 2011 would be awarded to the two top Grade 12 learners of the school.
The Secondary School Witteberg had a 100% pass rate in the Grade 12 final examinations the past few years. In 2009 the school was seventh amongst the top 50 schools in the Free State Province. Five learners from the school were also amongst the top 20 learners in the Province last year. The school has already produced many top students for the UFS.
Mediaverklaring
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (acting)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
18 March 2010