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Residence Committees reflect on year of growth and sustainable impact

24 October 2025 | Story Onthatile Tikoe | Photo Supplied

As the 2024/25 Residence Committees conclude their term, the annual Year-End Conversation talks, hosted by the Department of Housing and Residence Affairs, provided a platform for reflection, recognition, and renewal. The discussions captured the essence of student leadership at the University of the Free State (UFS): a commitment to service, growth, and lasting societal impact.

According to Dr Nokuthula Tlalajoe-Mokhatla, Academic Head and Senior Lecturer in the Division of Student Learning and Development, and Faculty Coordinator for the Faculty Student Council, the year has been one defined by meaningful collaboration. “The best thing that happened this year was when the leadership of House Abraham Fischer-Boetapele extended goodwill to the leadership of House Imperium through intentional outreaches and collaborations,” she shared. “It was a beautiful relationship that words cannot even begin to explain.”

Building impact through collaboration

The partnership between the two residences exemplifies the spirit of cooperation that underpins student leadership at the UFS. Their initiatives included impactful community projects, such as hosting cooking demonstrations to create awareness around high salt intake and engaging in plans to host a fun run promoting prostate cancer awareness.

“These projects go beyond fulfilling excellence criteria,” Dr Tlalajoe-Mokhatla explained. “They speak to taking up a responsibility that is bigger than us. Their impact is worth pursuing because they foster a sense of community not only among students but also within society.”

The projects reflect the UFS’s commitment to engaged scholarship, where learning transcends the classroom and contributes to real-world change.

Sustainability and long-term vision

To ensure sustainability, the residences have established collaborations with Prof Matthew Benedict from the Department of Family Medicine and Dr Lucia Meko, Head of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, who both play vital roles in strengthening the continuity of these health-focused initiatives.

Dr Tlalajoe-Mokhatla also highlighted the valuable contribution of Benedict Mochesela, Residence Head of the Vishuis Residence Council (RC) team. “Credit should be given to Mochesela, as all of the work by the Vishuis RC team happened under his guidance,” she said. “The legacy projects serve as a foundation for continuity. By expanding our partnerships, we ensure that these initiatives grow on a larger scale and remain relevant.”

Leadership and lifelong learning

Reflecting on the personal and professional growth of residence leaders, Dr Tlalajoe-Mokhatla highlighted communication, teamwork, and time management as the most notable developments. “Leadership goes beyond showing up for the job you are assigned to do,” she said. “It is a platform to showcase passion, engage communities, and contribute meaningfully to society.”

As new residence councils prepare to take up the mantle, her message is one of openness and adaptability. “Being rigid in your way of doing things stunts growth,” she concluded. “Through collaboration, agility, and kindness, anything is possible.”

News Archive

Multi-disciplinary research approach at UFS

2005-10-25

UFS follows multi-disciplinary research approach with opening of new centre

“A new way of doing business in necessary in the research and teaching of agriculture and natural sciences in South Africa. We must move away from departmentalised research infrastructures and a multi-disciplinary approach to research involving several disciplines must be adapted,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Prof van Schalkwyk delivered the keynote address during the launch of the Centre for Plant Health Management (CePHMa) at the Main Campus in Bloemfontein today (21 October 2005). CePHMa is an initiative of the UFS Department of Plant Sciences.

According to Prof van Schalkwyk a tertiary institution must practice multi-disciplinary research to be a world-class research institution. “It is difficult for researchers to admit that they do not know a lot about each other’s area of speciality. It is therefore necessary for researchers to make a paradigm shift and to focus on inter-disciplinary co-operation. To do this, we must encourage them to work together and to find a common language to communicate ideas en establish symbiotic relationships,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

“We tend to think that research is better and faster if it is specialised. This is not true. The new generation of scientists are young and they are trained to form a concept of the total system and not to focus on a specific area of speciality. At the UFS we encourage this approach to research. This was one of the main reasons for the establishment of CePHMa,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.
CePHMa is the only centre of its kind in Africa and is established to extend the expertise in plant health management in South Africa and in Africa, to train experts in plant health and to conduct multi-disciplinary research about the health of agricultural crops.

“CePHMa is a virtual centre comprising of ten disciplines applicable to crop production and crop protection,” said Prof Wijnand Swart, Chairperson of CePHMa during the opening ceremony.

“The UFS is the leading institution in Africa in terms of news crop development and manages three research programmes that concentrate on new crops, i.e. the New Crop Pathology Programme, the New Crop Development Programme and the Insects on New Crops Programme. Other applied research programmes that are unique to the UFS are genetic resistance to rust diseases of small grain crops and sustainable integrated disease management of field crops,” said Prof Swart.

“Because the expected growth in population will be 80% in 2020 in sub-Saharan Africa, the future demands of food produce in Africa will be influenced. Therefore research will in future be focused on ways to improve food security by employing agricultural systems that are economically viable and environmentally sound,” said Prof Swart.

“Thorough knowledge of the concept of holistic plant health management is crucial to meet the challenge and it is therefore imperative that innovative crop protection and crop production strategies, with particular emphasis on plant health, be adopted. This is why the Department of Plant Sciences initiated the establishment of CePHMA,” he said.

According to Prof Swart there is a shortage of expertise in plant health management. “The UFS has shown the potential to address the demand of the sub-continent of Africa regarding expertise training and CePHMa is the leader in southern Africa to provide in this need,” he said.

The appropriateness and quality of training in plant health management is reflected in the fact that students from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon, Angola, Mozambique and Lesotho have already been trained or are in the process of being trained in at the UFS.

Scientists from CePHMa have forged partnerships with numerous national and international institutions including the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), various community trusts, seed, pesticide and agricultural chemical companies, in addition to overseas universities.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
21 October 2005

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