Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

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

Four modernised controlled environment cabinets inaugurated

2006-07-27

Photographed in a controlled environment cabinet were at the back from the left: Mr Adriaan Hugo (head of the UFS Electronics and Mechanisation Division), Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS) and Prof Koos Terblans (lecturer at the UFS Department of Physics). In front is Mr Koos Uys (engineering consultant from Experto Designa who helped with the cooling systems of the cabinets).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

Different look for research in controlled circumstances at the UFS

Research in controlled circumstances at the University of the Free State (UFS) turned a new page today with the inauguration of four modernised controlled environment cabinets of the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences.

“The controlled environment cabinets, which are situated next to the glass houses on the eastern side of the Agriculture Building on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein, were installed in the early 1980’s. The cabinets, used for research purposes in controlled circumstances by the UFS for many years, became dysfunctional and needed to be repaired and put into use again,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS.

“The cabinets are used by the agronomics, horticulture and soil science divisions of the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences to control factors such as the temperature, the intensity and quality of light, synthesis and humidity. This is done 24 hours a day, with hourly intervals,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

The cabinets are ideally suited to determine the joint and separate effects of these factors on the growth of plants. The adaptability of plants to climate can also be investigated under controlled circumstances. All of this leads to a better understanding of the growth and development process of plants, more specifically that of agricultural crops.

“The effect of these environmental factors on the effectiveness of insect killers such as fungus killers, insecticide and weed killers can also be investigated and can help to explain the damage that is sometimes experienced, or even prevent the damage if the research is timeously,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

A new cabinet can cost between R2-3 million, depending on the degree of sophistication. “Although controlled environment cabinets have been used for agricultural research for a long time, it has become costly to maintain them and even more impossible to purchase new ones,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

According to Prof Van Schalkwyk the cabinets were re-built by die UFS Electronics and Mechanisation Division. Some of the mechanisms were also replaced and computerised.

“The re-building and mechanisation of the cabinets were funded by the faculty and because the work was done by our own staff, an amount of about R1 million was saved. The maintenance costs will now be lower as the cabinets are specifically tailor made for our research needs,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

Where all monitoring was done manually in the past, the cabinets can now be controlled with a computer. This programme was designed by Prof Koos Terblans from the UFS Department of Physics.

According to Prof Van Schalkwyk the modernisation of the cabinets is part of the faculty’s larger strategy to get its instruments and apparatus up to world standards. “With this project we have proved that we can find a solution for a problem ourselves and that there are ways to get old apparatus functional again,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
26 July 2006

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept